What's New @ Ramsar

Ecotourism conference in Australia, November 2003

Ramsar's Peter Bridgewater presented a keynote address last week to the Ecotourism Conference in Adelaide, Australia. The keynote PowerPoint presentation will be available from Wednesday after he has returned.

The idea of drawing together tourism operators more closely to nature conservation areas was a theme of the conference, and one that Ramsar needs to keep under review globally.

Peter also visited the Ramsar award-winning site of Banrock Station Winery, some 220km from Adelaide. This property is unique, in that it is a vineyard and a restaurant in the "bush", offers a visitor experience in the floodplains of Australia's biggest River, the Murray, and is a Ramsar site! The owners of the winery have committed to assisting wetland restoration and conservation projects in Australia and globally. Although the vineyard is not formally part of the Ramsar site, it is managed as though it is.

The accompanying photograph shows Peter and Tony Sharley, the Banrock Manager, framing the view from one of the excellent hides on the property. Australian Black swans can be seen in the distance.

While in Australia Peter also took time to discuss key issues with the Ramsar implementation team in the Department of Environment and Heritage, Canberra.

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 ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted 17 November 2003, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.