The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Who was where, 2008?

Who was where, 2008?

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, 2006, 2007

Anada Tiéga, the Secretary General, is Paris, France, 16 May 2008, for discussions with the Danone Group about our continuing partnership activities and with the Erath Workshops media forums. [16/05/08]

Anada Tiéga , the Secretary General, is participating in the 16th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-16) at UN headquarters in New York, USA, 7-14 May 2008. He will be one of the panelists in the Thematic Discussion on Drought, which is covering Climate change, water scarcity and drought; Drought and Impacts on hunger and poverty; Building resilience; Drought preparedness and response measures to drought; and Monitoring and early warning. [07/05/08]

Anada Tiéga and Nick Davidson, the SG and DSG, Tobias Salathé and Monica Zavagli, Ramsar's European regional team, and Sandra Hails, the CEPA Programme Officer, are in Solna-Stockholm, Sweden, 3-7 May 2008, for the 6th European Ramsar meeting. [05/05/08]

Sandra Hails, Valerie Higgins, Mireille Katz, and Montse Riera are in Changwon, Republic of Korea, all of this week, 14-19 April 2008, to collaborate with Korean colleagues on the logistical preparations for the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, set for late October in Changwon. [14/04/08]

María Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, is in Panamá City, 14-18 April 2008, for a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Ramsar Regional Center for Training and Research on Wetlands in the Western Hemisphere (CREHO). [14/04/08]

Mila Llorens, Assistant Regional Advisor for the Americas, is in Antigua & Barbuda, 14-16 April 2008, for consultations on the Small Grants Project "Inventory of Wetlands: Antigua & Barbuda". [14/04/08]

Representatives of ATEN (the Atelier Technique des Espaces Naturelles) of France are visiting the Ramsar Secretariat today, 10 April 2008, for discussions on cooperative efforts for capacity-building in francophone Africa. [10/04/08]

María Rivera and Mila Llorens, Senior and Assistant Regional Advisors for the Americas, are in Havana, Cuba, 7-11 April 2008, for the Caribbean Subregional Meeting for the Implementation of the Ramsar Convention, 8-10 April. [07/04/08]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2-5 April 2008, to participate in an STRP drafting session on wetlands and human health. [02/04/08]

Abou Bamba, Senior Regional Advisor for Africa, is in Accra, Ghana, 31 March-1April 2008, for a meeting of the contact group on Wetlands and Poverty Reduction. The purpose of the meeting is to afford participants the opportunity to collaborate with Ghana towards the preparation of a new draft Resolution on this subject for presentation to Ramsar CAOP10. [31/03/08]

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, and Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer, are in The Hague, The Netherlands, 28 March 2008, to participate in a meeting of the Advisory Board on Capacity Building sponsored by the Netherlands to facilitate the implementation of the Ramsar Convention. Participants include representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Wetlands International, UNESCO-IHE, and Wageningen International. [27/03/08]

Robert Bos of the World Health Organization is visiting the Ramsar Secretariat, 26 March 2008, as part of continuing WHO collaboration in the STRP's work on 'wetlands and human health'. [26/03/08]

Pragati Tuladhar, Technical Officer for Asia–Pacific, is attending High altitude wetlands and river basin management in the Himalayan Region: a Regional Consultation Workshop with Bhutan, China, India and Nepal in New Delhi, India, 27-29 March 2008, organized by Wetlands International–South Asia and ICIMOD. [27/03/08]

Abou Bamba, Senior Regional Advisor for Africa, is in Bamako, Mali , 26-27 March 2008, to launch a project funded by the Ramsar Swiss Grant for Africa for the implementation of Mali's National Wetland Committee 2008-2009 work plan. [14/03/08]

Abou Bamba, Senior Regional Advisor for Africa, is in Monrovia, Liberia, 17-21 March 2008, to assist in the preparation of a project document for the Integrated Water Resources Management of the Mesurado River Ramsar site. [14/03/08]

Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer, is in Paris, France, 17-19 March 2008, to participate a CBD CEPA Informal Advisory Committee expert workshop on education. [17/03/08]

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, and Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, are in Bern, Switzerland, 10 March 2008, for meetings with the Swiss government concerning Secretiariat matters and joint activities with the Swiss Ramsar Administrative Authority. [06/03/08]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is visiting UNEP-WCMC in Cambridge, UK, 7-11 March 2008, to participate in a meeting of the UNEP Conventions' harminsation project and to work with WCMC staff and Dave Pritchard (BirdLife) on progressing two STRP priority tasks: 1) review of convention data and information needs review and 2) indicators of effectiveness. (07/03/08)

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, and Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, are in Paris, 6 February 2008, to meet with the French Ramsar Administrative Authority, the Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, to discuss the role of France in their capacity as imminent President of the EU with regard to the Ramsar Convention and wetland conservation and wise use and the implementation of the Convention in France. On 7 March they will have four meetings with relevant divisions of UNESCO, including the Head of World Heritage Center, the Director of Legal Affairs, the Director of Ecological Sciences and Land, and the Director of Water Sciences. [06/03/08]

Pragati Tuladhar, Technical Officer for the Asia-Pacific, in Kathmandu, Nepal, 3-10 March 2008, for a Small Grants Fund project evaluation of the project entitled "Sustainable Wetland Management for Wildlife and People at Jagadishpur Reservoir, Central Nepal”. [03/03/08]

All Ramsar Secretariat staff members, and 88 guests, are in Gland, Switzerland, for the 36th meeting of the Standing Committee, 25-29 February 2008. [20/02/08]

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, is in Monaco, 19-22 February 2008, to participate in the 10th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum. He will also participate in a meeting of the EMG (Environmental Management Group) and a special meeting of conventions. [20/02/08]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is at the FAO in Rome, Italy, for the 13th meeting of CBD's Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-13), 18-22 February 2008. [20/02/08]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Tartu, Estonia, 18-23 February 2008, for the Eastern European Network Conference of Living Lakes. [20/02/08]

The Secretary General, Mr Anada Tiéga, is in Maun, Botswana, to participate in the launch of the Secretariat of the Permanent Okavango River Basin Water Commission (OKACOM) on 2nd February, together with the celebration of both World Wetland Day 2008 and the completion of the Planning Phase of the Okavango Delta Management Plan (ODMP). [01/02/08]

The Convention's Scientific and Technical Review Panel is holding its 14th ordinary meeting (STRP14) this week, and some 50 thematic and regional members, representatives of International Organization Partners and other interested organizations, representatives of related MEAs, and invited experts have gathered for a punishing daily schedule of presentations and drafting throughout the week, 28 January to 1 February. [28/01/08]

The Secretary General, Mr Anada Tiega, is participating in the Beijing International Conference on Combating Desertification, 22-24 January 2008, organized by the Ramsar Administrative Authority in China, the State Forestry Administration, and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs as an intersessional event in contribution to the 16th session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), set for May 2008. [21/01/08]

Mr. Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), accompanied by Mr. Gregoire de Kalbermatten, Deputy Executive Secretary of UNCCD, visited the Ramsar Convention Secretariat on 16 January 2008, to discuss issues of common interest to the two conventions since his appointment by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. [17/01/08]

María Rivera, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is participating in a meeting of the council of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN), 14-15 January 2008, in San Blas Nayarit, México, and holding discussions with the Ramsar Administrative Authority in México, 16-18 January. [15/01/08]

The Ramsar Regional Meeting for Asia is being held 14-18 January 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, and the Secretariat has a strong team on the scene: Anada Tiega, the Secretary General, Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, Alexia Dufour, Regional Affairs Officer, and Pragati Tuladhar, Assistant Advisor for the Asia-Pacific, as well as Rebecca D'Cruz, a former Ramsar staff member and current Vice-Chair of the STRP, who has been contracted to help the Secretariat with Asian issues until a new Senior Advisor has come on board. [14/01/08]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Cambridge, UK, 14 January 2008, for a one-day STRP task group informal meeting, hosted by UNEP-WCMC, to further develop work on the Panel's priority task on a data and information needs review for the Convention, in preparation for its discussion during the 14th meeting of the Panel, Gland, 28 January - 1 February 2008. [14/01/08]

Pragati Tuladhar, Assistant Regional Advisor for the Asia-Pacific, is in Bangkok, Thailand, to make final preparations for the Ramsar Regional Meeting in preparation for COP10 that will take place there next week. [07/01/08]

Anada Tiéga, the Secretary General, and Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, are in Athens, Greece, 7-9 January 2008, for discussions with the Ramsar administrative authorities and with the MedWet Secretariat, and to participate in the 5th meeting of the MedWet Steering Group. This meeting will prepare guidance to be submitted to MedWet/Com9. A summary report will be prepared on the implementation of the multi-year work plan, including significant achievements on the effective conservation and wise use of wetlands in the Mediterranean Basin. Proposals for future work will also be examined. [07/01/08]

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 ). The series was discontinued from mid-December 2004 to mid-March 2006. Updated 16 May 2008.