The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

25th Meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee

Report of the Secretary General

ANNEX IV

Ramsar site designations and area extensions during the period

2 December 1999 – 15 September 2000

Africa

Benin (new CP) - Basse Vallée du Couffo, Lagune Côtiere, Chenal Aho, Lac Ahémé (47,500 hectares) and Basse Vallée de l’Ouémé, Lagune de Porto-Novo, Lac Nokoué (91,600 hectares).

Libya (new CP) - Ain Elshakika and Ain Elzarga, both on or near the Mediterranean coast in the general area of Darnah and Tubruq (Ramsar Information Sheets have not yet been received for them)

Sierra Leone (new CP) - Sierra Leone River Estuary (295,000 hectares)

Tanzania (new CP) - Malagarasi-Muyovozi Wetlands (3,250,000 hectares)

Asia

Bangladesh - Has designated its 2^nd site, Tanguar Haor (9,500 ha)

Iran - Has designated its 19^th and 20^th sites: Govater Bay and Hur-e-Bahu (75,000 hectares) and Sheedvar Island (870 ha)

Philippines - Has designated its 4^th, 5^th and 6^th Ramsar sites: Tubbataha Reefs National Marine Park (33,200 hectares); Naujan Lake National Park in Oriental Mindoro (14,568 ha); and The Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary (14,836 ha)

Europe

Austria - Has designated its 10th Ramsar site: Waldviertel ponds, peat bogs and floodplains (13,000 ha)

Belarus (new CP) - Sporovsky Biological Reserve (‘zakaznik’) (19,384 hectare)

Republic of Moldova (new CP) - Lower Prut Lakes (19,152 hectares)

United Kingdom - The total of sites is now 156. New designations and extensions are: The Arun Valley site (529 ha); Northumbria Coast (1108 hectares); extension of the Morecambe Bay Ramsar site to a further 1541 hectares; Thames Estuary and Marshes (5589 hectares); Black Bog (183 hectares); Fairy Water Bogs (224 ha); Slieve Beagh (1885 ha); Eden Estuary (6923 ha); and The Inner Clyde Estuary (1826 ha)

Neotropics

Argentina - Has designated its 7th and 8^th sites: Lagunas de Guanacache (580,000 ha) and Laguna de Vilama (157,000 ha)

Bolivia - Has designated its 3rd site, Cuenca de Tajzara (5,500 ha)

Brazil - Has designated its 6^th and 7^th sites, Parque Estadual Marinho do Parcel Manoel Luis (34,556 ha), and Baixada Maranhense (1,775,035.6 ha)

Costa Rica - Has designated its 10^th site, Cuenca Embalse Arenal (67,296 ha)

Ecuador - Has designated its 3^rd and 4^th sites, Abras de Mantequilla (22,500 ha) and La Segua (1,836 ha)

Guatemala - Has designated its 4th site, Punta de Manabique (132,900 ha)

North America

No new designations or extensions.

Oceania

Australia - Has extended the Macquarie Marshes site (1/8/86, 18,143 hectares) by an additional 583 hectares, largely by virtue of a stewardship agreement between government and private landowners

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 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 ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted 27 September 2000, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.