The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Who was where, 2006?

Who was where, 2006?

A collection of travel news about Ramsar Secretariat staff, in reverse chronological order, drawn from the Who's Where? feature of the Ramsar Bulletin Board.

For more old Ramsar Secretariat travel news, see also 'Who Was Where', 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

The Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater, is visiting the CBD Secretariat in Montreal, Canada; the Smithsonian Institution and the GEF Secretariat in Washington, D.C., USA; and UNDESA in New York, 8-12 January 2007. [08/01/07]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, and Pere Tomas-Vives are conducting a Ramsar Advisory Mission to the Albufera de Valencia Ramsar site in Spain, 20-23 December 2006. [20/12/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in the Republic of Korea for discussion about the preparations for Ramsar COP10, 17-21 December 2006. [18/12/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, for a meeting of the Ramsar Advisory Board on Capacity Building, 15 December 2006. [15/12/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Paris for Board of the TOTAL Foundation for the Environment, London for 60th anniversary of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Kiev for the Carpathian Convention COP1, and signature of a MoU with the United Nations Environment Programme Vienna – Interim Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (UNEP Viena ISCC), 10-13 December 2006. [11/12/06]

Sandra Hails, the CEPA Programme Officer, is attending a meeting of the CBD's Informal Advisory Committee on communication, education and public awareness from 12-13th December, and from 13-14th, a workshop for capacity building for CEPA and for National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, in Montreal, Canada. [11/12/06]

Nick Davidson, the Deputy Secretary General, is in Wageningen, The Netherlands, for the first meeting of the steering committee of the Wings Over Wetlands project, 8 December 2006. [08/12/06]

The first meeting of the MedWet Steering Group is taking place in the Secretariat facilities in Gland, Switzerland, 7 December 2006. [06/12/06]

Lei Guangchun, Senior Advisor for the Asia/Pacific, is in the Republic of Korea, 28 November to 4 December, for the International Symposium on Asian Regional Issues in wetland management and preparation for COP10, followed by Biodiversity conservation in the DMZ (demilitarized zone). [28/11/06]

Lucia Scodanibbio, Assistant Advisor for Africa, is participating in the Wetlands International Anglophone Training of Trainers (ToT) for East and West Africa at the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute in Naivasha, Kenya, 27-30 November 2006. The course runs to the 15th of December. [28/11/06]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, and Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, are conducting an official visit to Chile, 26 November to 2 December 2006, for discussions about the listing of the Carlos Anwandter Sanctuary on the lower Río Cruces on the Montreux Record of Ramsar sites at which changes to the ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of human activities. [27/11/06]

Dorothea August, Assistant Advisor for Europe, is near Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 24-25 November 2006, for a Ramsar Small Grants Fund project workshop on the 2005 SGF project "pilot project on the restoration and rehabilitation of the Bardacha wetland region". The Bardacha wetland complex (including fishponds in the floodplain of the Vrbas river, upstream of its entering into the Sava transboundary river) is supposed to be designated as a RS as one of the results of this SGF project. [23/11/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in La Palma, Canary Islands, 22-24 November 2006, for the 'Starlight Initiative'. [20/11/06]

Tobias Salathé, Ramsar Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Bonn, Germany, for the UNECE Water Convention's MOP4, 19-22 November, 2006. [20/11/06]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Cape Town, South Africa, for an ESA/TIGER Workshop, 20-22 November, 2006. [20/11/2006]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is attending the annual conference of the IEEM (Institute of Ecology and Environment Management) in Cardiff, 14-16 November. [14/11/06]

Tobias Salathé and Dorothea August, Ramsar Senior and Assistant Advisors for Europe, are in Evian, France, hosting an Evian Encounter workshop, funded by the Danone Group, on the Regional Initiative on Carpathian Wetlands, 14-17 November 2006. [14/11/06]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Geneva to participate in an UNCTAD Bio Trade workshop, 14-15 November 2006. [14/11/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in Paris 9-10 November 2006 for a meeting of Star Alliance. [09/11/06]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Wageningen, the Netherlands for Wetlands International's board meeting and discussions about the Global Agriculture and Wetlands Initiative, 8-10 November 2006. [08/11/06]

Lei Guangchun, Senior Advisor for the Asia-Pacific, is in Jakarta for the East Asia Australasia Flyways Partnership meeting, 3-12 November 2006. [07/11/06]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is attending a 3-day UNEP-sponsored workshop in Juba on capacity building the environmental sector in southern Sudan. [31/10/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is attending the Living Lakes Conference in Nanchang, China, 31 October - 2 November 2006. [30/10/06]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is participating in the Regional Parliamentary Committee on Lake Chad Basin, Abuja, Nigeria, 27-28 October 2006. [27/10/06]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Berne, 27 October 2006, for the 3rd meeting of Wetlands International’s Global Waterbird Advisory Group (“WIG-WAG3”), which provides advice to Wetlands International on the further development of its long-term waterbird monitoring programme including the International Waterbird Census (IWC) and periodic publication of Waterbird Population Estimates, the 4th edition of which is now in press. [27/10/06]

Heather MacKay, Chair of the Ramsar Scientific and Technical Panel (STRP), is visiting the Secretariat, 23-25 October 2006, for discussions on the implementation of the STRP work plan for this triennium. [25/10/06]

The Deputy Secretary General, Nick Davidson, is participation in the GlobWetland Symposium: "Looking at Wetlands from Space", organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) in association with the Ramsar Convention, taking place ESA ESRIN in Frascati, Italy, 19-20 October 2006. [20/10/06]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Kampala, Uganda, 19-20 October 2006, to participate in the AMCOW Conference of African River and Lake Basin Organizations. [19/10/06]

Sandra Hails, Ramsar CEPA Programme Officer, is in Hangzhou, China, to participate in the 2nd Wetland Forum hosted in Xixi National Wetland Park by the national State Forestry Administration and co-organized with the Hangzhou Municipal Government and the Zhejiang Provincial Foresty Department, 20-22 October 2006. [19/10/06]

The Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater, and Lei Guangchun, the Senior Advisor for the Asia/Pacific, are in Beijing, China, 16-20 October 2006, attending the Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting on the Implementation of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA-IGR2). Whilst there, they will be signing Memoranda of Cooperation with the UNEP-GPA and with the International Ocean Institute (IOI). [16/10/06]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, and Adrián Ruiz-Carvajal, the Assistant Advisor, are in Cozumel, Mexico, 16-20 October 2006, to participate in the International Tropical Marine Ecosystems Management Symposium (ITMEMS) - "Global Problems, Local Solutions" - and contribute to two Ramsar workshops on disaster management and on ecosystem restoration. [16/10/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Regional Advisor for Europe, is in Osnabrück, Germany, 15-18 October 2006, to participate in a symposium on World Heritage nature sites and cultural landscapes in southeastern Europe. [16/10/06]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, is visiting the Sian Kaan Ramsar site in Mexico, in order to talk to the communities and the managers of the site about the problems they are facing and the successes they have achieved with co-management. Following that visit, she will be participating in two Ramsar workshops during the International Tropical Marine Ecosystems Management Symposium (ITMEMS) - "Global Problems, Local Solutions" - in Cozumel, 16-20 October 2006. The workshops will be on disaster management and on ecosystem restoration. [10/10/06]

Nick Davidson, the Deputy Secretary General, is in Cambridge, England, 5-6 October 2006, at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) on the Ramsar STRP’s work on indicators of effectiveness and a workshop on developing a waterbird key site network as part of the African-Eurasian Flyways GEF project. [04/10/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Leipzig, Germany, 1 to 4 October 2006, to participate in the workshop "Design of science policy interfaces for global biodiversity governance”, as a contribution to the international consultative process on IMoSEB (International Mechanism of Scientific Expertise on Biodiversity) (invited by the UFZ-Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, and the European Union). [01/10/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Bari, Italy, 30 September, to give a presentation on the network of Mediterranean Ramsar sites at "Mediterre", the Mediterranean Parks Fair, at the invitation of the Regione Puglia and the Italian Federation of Parks and Nature Reserves. [29/09/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is visiting the Nyirkai Hany wetland restoration area near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Ferto in Hungary, 29 September, at the invitation of the authorities there, for a ceremony in which Hungary is signing an agreement with IUCN's Countdown 2010 initiative and designating three new Ramsar sites and extending another as its first contribution towards that initiative. [29/09/06]

The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Ramsar Standing Committee and Chair of the Standing Committee Subgroup on Finance are visiting the Secretariat in Gland, Switzerland, 26-28 September 2006, for discussions with the staff and participation in Thursday's meeting with representatives of the International Organization Partners (IOPs). [26/09/06]

The Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater, is in Arendal, Norway, 21-23 September 2006, representing Ramsar and the CBD at a seminar on "Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Relevance for the Arctic", organized by UNEP/GRID. [20/09/06]

The Biodiversity Liaison Group, comprising the five biodiversity-related conventions (CBD, CITES, CMS, Ramsar, and World Heritage), is holding its fifth meeting today, 14 September, hosted by the Ramsar Secretariat in the facilities of IUCN-The World Conservation Union headquarters in Gland, Switzerland. "In order to enhance coherence and cooperation in implementation, a liaison group has been established between the heads of the secretariats of the five biodiversity-related conventions. The Biodiversity Liaison Group meets regularly to explore opportunities for synergistic activities and increased coordination, and to exchange information." (See http://www.biodiv.org/cooperation/related-conventions/blg.shtml for further background.) [14/09/06]

Nick Davidson, the Deputy Secretary General, is in Wageningen, The Netherlands, for discussions with Wetlands International, 11-13 September 2006. [11/09/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Klagenfurt, Austria, to provide an invited lecture on implementation planning for the International Master's course on "Management of Protected Areas" at Klagenfurt, University, 8-10 September 2006. [09/09/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Essaouira, Morocco, with the TOTAL Foundation for the Environment, 7-10 September 2006. [07/09/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is on the Isle of Man for the launch of the intended addition of Ballaugh Curragh as a Ramsar site, 5-6 September 2006. [05/09/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Fall, Norway, for a meeting of the Nordic-Baltic Wetland Initiative, 5-8 September 2006. [05/09/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Barcelona, Spain, for the awarding of the Margalef Prize, 4 September 2006. [04/09/06]

Guangchun Lei, the Senior Advisor for Asia, is in Kushiro, Japan, to participate in a workshop sponsored by Ramsar, UNITAR, and the CBD on "Ecosystem, Water, and Biodiversity" for Asia-Pacific government officials. The workshop, held at the Kushiro International Wetland Centre, runs from 26 August to 1 September 2006. [25/08/06]

Ms Kemi Awoyinka of Wetlands International and Mike Ounsted, Chair of the Wetlands and Livelihoods Working Group, are visiting the Secretariat today for discussions with Abou Bamba and other staff members about strategies for implementing Ramsar Resolution IX.14 on "Wetlands and poverty reduction". [25/08/06

The Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater, is participating in the World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, 22 and 23 August 2006. [22/08/06]

Guangchun Lei, the Senior Advisor for Asia and the Pacific, is in Yemen, 2-10 August 2006, to advise the Environment Protection Agency on preparations for the designation of that country's first Ramsar site. In May 2006, the Yemeni Parliament ratified Yemen's accession to the Ramsar Convention, and only the obligatory first Wetland of International Importance is now needed. [02/08/06]

Tobias Salathé, the Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Meripuisto, Finland, 28 July 2006, for a meeting between the International Mire Conservation Group and the International Peat Society, and on 29 July, the 5th Meeting of the Coordination Committee for Global Action on Peatlands (CC-GAP): “Take up the challenge - or lose the opportunity?” [28/07/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Budapest, Hungary, 25-27 July 2006, to deliver a lecture on Ramsar at a UNITAR training course entitled “Fellowship Programme on International and Comparative Environmental Law”, at the invitation of UNITAR. [25/07/06]

Vainuupo Jungblut, Ramsar Officer based in SPREP in Apia, Samoa, will be visiting Tonga, 25-28 July 2006, at the invitation of the Environment Department, to assist in finalizing preparations for Tonga's accession and of the draft report of that country's first Small Grants Fund project. [24/07/06]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in in Cairns, Australia, 9-15 July 2006, participating in the Catchments to Coasts conference organised by the Society of Wetland Scientists and Australian Marine Sciences Association, chairing a symposium on “Implementing the Ramsar Convention: Priorities and Challenges". [05/07/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, and Lei Guangchun, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia Pacific, are in China from 5-14 July visiting the Hanghzou and Ruorgai marshes Ramsar Sites, and meeting in Beijing with the Ramsar Administrative Authorities to look at their wetland conservation and restoration programme and to discuss various issues related to the future development of the Himalayan Initiative. [05/07/06]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is in Geneva, Switzerland, 30 June-5 July, attending UNEP's Environment Management Group meeting on UN environmental governance, and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting. [03/07/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, Lei Guangchun, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia Pacific, and Marsel Kuzyakov, will be in Seoul and Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea, from 2-4 July, to meet with representatives from the Korean Ramsar Administrative Authority, the Global Environment Office of the Ministry of Environment, for discussions on COP10 preparations. [03/07/06]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Yaoundé, Cameroon, 26-29 June, to attend the Regional Seminar on Sustainable Development for the Parliaments of Africa States, and discuss with the Government of Cameroon the implementation status of their SGA project. [26/06/06]

Dorothea August, Assistant Advisor for Europe, is in Geneva, Switzerland attending the second meeting of the UNECE Working Group on Integrated Water Resources Management, 26-27 June, and from the 28-29 June, will be in Saint-Opportune-la-Mare, France, presenting a paper on the designation of the Grand'Mare as a Ramsar Site at a seminar on La Grand'Mare II. [26/06/06]

Lei Guangchun, Senior Advisor for Asia Pacific, is in Delhi, India attending two workshops from 25-30 June: a workshop launching the EU-funded Eco-Pro Asia project for capacity building in the Himalaya region; and a Himalayan Initiative workshop, jointly funded by WWF International and the Ramsar Danone Fund, that will train Ramsar Site managers from 10 countries. [26/06/06]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Rhodes, Greece, 23-25 June, to participate in the Ecofilms Festival 2006 and to present the Ramsar MedWet prize for the best film addressing water and wetland issues at the Festival, and then to Wetlands International, Netherlands to attend the Waterbird Programme Advisory meeting, 27 June. [23/06/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Galati, Romania, attending the international conference on Past and future in establishing institutions on Danube cooperation organized by the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry, 25-29 June. [26/06/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Geneva, Switzerland, to attend the UNECE Water Convention legal board and task force meeting, 20-21 June. [20/06/06]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Cambridge, England, for discussions at UNEP-WCMC on synergies among MEAs and harmonization of national reporting, 14-15 June. [13/06/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in Rome for the signing of an MOC with FAO-GTOS and meetings with various FAO officials, 13-14 June 2006. [13/06/06]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is in New York, USA, to participate in the seventh meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, United Nations Headquarters, 12 to 16 June 2006. [11/06/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, and Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, are in Tirana, Albania, 11-12 June 2006, for an extraordinary meeting of the MedWet Committee. [11/06/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is participating in the "Probioprise" project workshop on "Small and medium enterprises working with wetland products and in related sectors: is being green a business opportunity?"organised by Fauna & Flora International and the European Bureau for Conservation & Development in the Neusiedl Ramsar site and Nationalpark (Austria), 9-10 June 2006. [09/06/06]

David Pritchard, International Treaties Advisor at RSPB and BirdLife International, is working in the Ramsar Secretariat this week, 5-9 June 2006, helping with following up on STRP matters. [06/06/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Amsterdam for a meeting of the "Ramsar Advisory Board on Training", 6 June 2006. [06/06/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, and Lei Guang-Chun, Senior Advisor for the Asia/Pacific, are in Dubai, 4-5 June 2006, to discuss accession to the Convention and potential Ramsar sites in the United Arab Emirates, at the invitation of Total and the municipal government of Dubai. [04/06/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is participating in World Environment Day events in Cyprus, 4-6 June 2006, organized by the UNDP action for cooperation and trust (between the different communities in Cyprus), and will be a contributing a presentation on "wetlands in drylands" in keeping with this year's WED theme [04/06/06]

The members and observers of the Convention's CEPA Oversight Panel are visiting the Secretariat today, 29 May 2006, for the first meeting of the Panel, which was mandated by the Parties in COP9 Resolution IX.18 (2005) and established by the Standing Committee in April 2006. The participants will be discussing of the future role of the Panel, the state of progress in the implementation of the Convention's Communications, Education, and Public Awareness (CEPA) Programme 2003-2008, identifying future needs, and developing a method for advising the Standing Committee on the shape and content of the next CEPA Programme, for 2009-2014. [29/05/06]

Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer, is in Wageningen, the Netherlands, 24-26 May 2006, to participate in the final sessions and graduation of the wetland "training of trainers" course, organized by Wageningen International. [23/05/06]

Representatives of the governments of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran, with representatives of UNDP and UNEP, are visiting the Ramsar Secretariat, 18 May 2006, to discuss the final steps in Afghanistan's accession to the Convention and collaboration in the management of the transboundary wetlands shared by their two countries. [18/05/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in Australia, 13-26 May, for a Parks Forum, returning to the Secretariat on 27 May. [12/05/06]

Tobia Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Sweden, near Gothenburg, 15-18 May 2006, to participate in the first ordinary meeting of the Nordic-Baltic Wetland Initiative, including the countries Denmark and Greenland, Estonia, Finland and Aaland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Spitzbergen, Baltic regions of the Russian Federation, and Sweden, followed by a seminar on restoration of mires and wet forests. [15/05/06]

Dorothea August, Assistant Advisor for Europe, is in Merseberg, Germany, 15-17 May 2006, to participate in the annual meeting of the German State Archaeologists -- the subject of this year's colloquium is "archaeological management in river basins, floodplains, and lake landscapes", and Dorothea is making a presentation on "Wetlands, heritage, the Water Framework Directive, and the role of the Ramsar Convention". [15/05/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in Apia, Samoa, 10-11 May 2006, to sign a new MOC with the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), consult with the Ramsar Officer there, Vainuupo Jungblut, and hold discussions with Samoa's Administrative Authority about Samoa's role as the Oceania representative on the Ramsar Standing Committee. [10/05/06]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is at the Ministry of Environment in Madrid, Spain, 10-11 May 2006, for an informal meeting of the major funding countries of the MedWet Initiative, in order to progress new terms of reference and discuss financial prospects in advance of the extraordinary MedWet/Com meeting in Albania next month. [10/05/06]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in New York, USA, 7-9 May 2006, to attend part of the 14th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD14) and a meeting at Columbia University, before traveling on to Samoa, 10-11 May. [06/05/06]

Margarita Astràlaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is in Iquique, Chile, 8-11 May 2006, for a meeting of the High Andean Strategy group. [02/06/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Zermatt, Switzerland, 4 May, for a meeting of the international advisory board (of which the Secretariat is a member) of the M.Sc. course "Management of Protected Areas" of Klagenfurt University in Austria. The board meeting is taking place during the course module currently taking place in Zermatt, 28 April to 7 May, where 22 graduate students are focusing of specific aspects of protected area management and visiting various kinds of protected areas in the region. [04/05/06]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is participating in the "Wetlands, Poverty Reduction and Policy Linkages" meeting in Wageningen, the Netherlands, 3 May 2006. The aims of the workshop are to present the proposed policy directions for the Wetlands and Poverty Reduction Project of Wetlands International; share thinking and request input on potential collaborations concerning the development of national strategies related to environment and poverty reduction; promote active engagement in Wetlands International's new 4-year Wetlands and Poverty Reduction Programme- stimulation and development of partnerships; and explore tools that could contribute to supporting mainstreaming of wetlands and wise water management into development processes. [03/05/06]

Margarita Astràlaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is in Panama for a meeting of the Board of the Ramsar Regional Center for Training and Research on Wetlands in the Western Hemisphere (CREHO), 2-5 May 2006. [02/05/06]

Lucia Scodanibbio, Assistant Advisor for Africa, is representing the Secretariat at the "Biodiversity is Life, Countdown 2010: Biodiversity Protection in Wetlands" workshop at the Parco Delta del Po near Comacchio, Italy, 29 April 2006. She is making a presentation entitled "Ramsar sites: a network against biodiversity loss". [29/04/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, has been participating in the UN-ECE drafting group meeting in Geneva, which is finalizing the draft Code of Conduct for Payment of Ecosystem Services, and has traveled on to Austria to participate in the meeting of the Austrian National Ramsar Committee and attend the opening in Schrems of the new Ramsar Centre at the "Waldviertel" Ramsar site, 27-28 April 2006. [27/04/06]

The Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater, is visiting the biological research station Tour du Valat in the Camargue, southern France, 25-26 April 2006, to discuss matters of common interest with senior staff there. [25/04/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is visiting the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean to advise on the potential development of a new hotel at the "Het Lac" Ramsar site, 17-20 April 2006. [25/04/06]

The Ramsar Standing Committee has gathered at the Secretariat facilities in Gland, Switzerland, for its 34th meeting, 11-13 April 2006. [11/04/06]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Libreville, Gabon, 3-4 April 2006, to participate in a Ramsar/UNEP Parliamentarians Workshop on Biodiversity-related MEAs and to assess the progress of a Swiss Grant for Africa project in that country. [03/04/06]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is at the UN offices in Geneva, Switzerland, 30-31 March, to participate in a drafting group of the UNECE Water Convention secretariat that is working on a code of conduct on payment for water-related ecosystem services. [30/03/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Curitiba, Brazil, for the high-level segment of COP8 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. He will be back in the Secretariat on 31 March. [27/03/06]

Abou Bamba, the Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Yaounde, Cameroon, 27-28 March 2006, to participate in the IUCN workshop on legal tools for Ramsar implementation in francophone Africa and review progress on an ongoing Ramsar Swiss Grants Fund project in that country. [27/03/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, Sebastià Semene, and the Senior Advisor for the Americas, Margarita Astrálaga, are in México for the Fourth World Water Forum. The Secretary General will be traveling onward on 23 March to Curitiba, Brazil, for the high-level segment of COP8 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. He will be back in the Secretariat on 31 March. [19/03/06]

Nick Davidson, the Deputy Secretary General, is in Brazil, 18-26 March, for the CBD COP8, and today, 19 March, he presented a paper to the pre-COP CBD brainstorming session on "Impacts of Avian Influenza on Wildlife", which can be seen here. [19/03/06]

Guangchun Lei, the Senior Advisor for the Asia-Pacific, is in Canberra, Australia, 21-24 March 2006, for the East Asia Australiasia Flyway Partnership Working Group Meeting. The meeting aims to finalize the Partnership text and the Strategy and was organized by the Government of Australia, and it will include some 22 participants from most of the member countries along the flyway, as well as the Ramsar Convention Secretariat and the Ramsar Partners Wetlands International, WWF, and BirdLife International. [19/03/06]

Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Paris, 14 March 2006, for the launch of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network's analysis of post-tsunami effects (Australian Embassy). On 15 March he is traveling to México for the Fourth World Water Forum until 23 March, and will then go to Curitiba, Brazil for the high-level segment of COP8 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. He will be back in the Secretariat on 31 March. [14/03/06]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is in Campeche, México, 13-17 March 2006, for the IV Taller Internacional CONyMA (Contaminación y Protección del Medio Ambiente) on the theme "Las algas nocivas y los humedales costeros", sponsored by the Estado de Campeche and the Centro de Investigaciones Pesqueras de Cuba. She is presenting a paper on "La Convención Ramsar y los Ecosistemas de Manglar", which can be read here in Spanish (PDF).

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ). Posted 19 March 2006, updated 17 January 2007, Dwight Peck, Ramsar. The series was discontinued from mid-December 2004 to mid-March 2006.