What's New @ Ramsar

Symposium in honor of Cyrille de Klemm, Paris, 30-31 March 2000

Biological Diversity and Environmental Law

International Colloquium in tribute to the memory of

Cyrille de Klemm

Paris, 30-31 March 2000

Cyrille de Klemm, renowned expert in environmental law and long a legal advisor to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, passed away on 1 April 1999 (see the tribute here), just before the publication of his definitive book on wetlands law and the legal aspects of the Ramsar Convention, Wetlands, Water and the Law: Using law to advance wetland conservation and wise use (IUCN Environmental Law Centre, 1999), co-authored with Clare Shine. One of his earlier legal works, The Legal Development of the Ramsar Convention, was published by the Ramsar Bureau in 1995.

Now, a year later, an international symposium is under way in Paris on "Biological Diversity and Environmental Law" with simultaneous translation in French and English. Organized by the Council of Europe, the National Institute of Agronomical Research, IUCN-The World Conservation Union, and the Centre of Interdisciplinary Research in Environmental Law at the University of Limoges, the meeting is also sponsored by the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, the International Council of Environmental Law, the European Council of Environmental Law, the European Association of Environmental Law, the International Centre of Comparative Environmental Law, Environment without Borders, the French Society for Environmental Law, and the Research Group on Cultural and Natural Heritage Law of University of Paris-Sud.

Following a discussion of "The work of Cyrille de Klemm in the field of biodiversity and nature conservation", symposia include

• Scientific and philosophical issues related to biological diversity, chaired by François Ost, University Faculties Saint Louis, Belgium
• Similarities and differences in international law: 1, Biological diversity in international conventions, chaired by Nicholas Robinson, chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law
• Similarities and differences in international law: 2, Biological diversity in the context of international general law and international institutions, chaired by Wolfgang Burhenne, Executive governor of the International Council of Environmental Law
• Biological diversity in comparative law (enforcement of international standards, effectiveness, and local implementation), chaired by Marie Odile Guth, Director of the Nature Protection Department, Ministry of Land Planning and the Environment, France

Amongst the many speakers are Ulf Müller-Helmbrecht, Coordinator of the Convention on Migratory Species (Bonn Convention); Clare Shine on "Biological diversity and the Ramsar Convention"; Daniel Navid of UNITAR, formerly Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention; Peter Skoberne, Pan-European Landscape and Biological Diversity; Torsten Larsson, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency; and Françoise Burhenne-Guilmin, Senior Counsel, IUCN Environmental Law Centre in Bonn.

Mr Delmar Blasco, Secretary General, is representing the Convention on Wetlands.

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 ). Posted 30 March 2000, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.