Key Documents of the Ramsar Convention

Recommendation 5.7 on National Committees

5th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties
Kushiro, Japan
9-16 June 1993

Recommendation 5.7: National Committees

WELCOMING all efforts made by Contracting Parties to coordinate implementation of the Convention at national level;

NOTING that a number of Contracting Parties or organizations within them have sought to achieve such coordination by the voluntary establishment of "national Ramsar committees";

RECOGNIZING that such committees can take a variety of forms according to local need;

CONSIDERING, nevertheless, that all have in common at least the provision of a permanent national focus for matters concerning the Convention;

CONSIDERING that national committees can provide a useful means within individual Contracting Parties, inter alia of facilitating liaison between interested persons, making expert input to national reports, coordinating applications to and use of the Wetland Conservation Fund [now called the Ramsar Small Grants Fund--Web Editor], and reviewing the implementation of the "Monitoring Procedure" [now called the Ramsar Advisory Mission] and "Montreux Record" and of resolutions and recommendations adopted by the Conference of the Contracting Parties;

THE CONFERENCE OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES

ENCOURAGES Contracting Parties to establish, or recognize the establishment of, national committees according to the needs of each Contracting Party, to provide a focus at national level for implementation of the Convention;

URGES that, where this is done, the opportunity be provided for an input from both governmental and relevant non-governmental organizations and/or individuals;

REQUESTS that national committees send the Bureau summary information concerning their establishment, updated with reference to their work in subsequent national reports; and

REQUESTS the Bureau to maintain information on national committees, and to respond, to the extent possible, to reasonable requests for advice on the subject.

For more information about the Resolutions and Recommendations of the Kushiro COP or the Ramsar Convention itself, please contact: the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ). Posted 17 February 1997, updated 4 January 2005, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.