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STRP Working Group mid-term workshops set for July 2004

Arrangements for STRP Working Groups mid-term workshops

As foreseen in the STRP's modus operandi and Work Plan 2003-2005, the leads of a number of the expert Working Groups established by the 11th meeting of the STRP have indicated that they wish to hold a mid-term workshop, to review and make further progress on the draft reports and guidances being prepared by the Working Groups for consideration by COP9. Workshops will focus their attention on key tasks and documents on which drafting progress has been made, and will not necessarily give significant attention to all tasks as set out in the STRP Work Plan.

In agreement with the Chair of the STRP, Max Finlayson, and the Working Group leads, it has been possible to make arrangements for workshops for four Working Groups:

WG 1: Inventory & Assessment
WG 3: Water resources
WG 4: Ramsar site designation
WG 6: Assessment of the effectiveness of Convention implementation

Arrangements for progressing the work of the other two Working Groups (WG2 Wise Use; and WG5 Management planning) are under discussion with the Working Group leads and will be the subject of further messages to members of those Groups.

The mid-term workshops will take place sequentially, in Wageningen, The Netherlands, from Tuesday 20 July to Saturday 24 July 2004. This is during the week before the INTECOL wetlands conference nearby in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Participation in the workshops

Participants in each workshop will, on the advice of Working Group leads and the STRP Chair, be drawn from members of the relevant STRP Working Group, expert consultants responsible for preparation of draft reports and guidelines, and additional invited experts identified by the Working Group leads. It is anticipated that the invited experts will include a number of relevant experts involved in the preparation of Ramsar-related materials for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), with financial support arranged through the MA Secretariat.

Individual invitations will shortly be sent to all participants. Further information about the workshop arrangements and agendas, registration and booking forms, etc., will be sent out later in April 2004.

Important note: owing to the limited funding available in 2004 from the Convention's core budget allocation for delegate support for appointed members of the Panel from OECD DAC-list counties, please note that it will not be possible for the costs of participation in these workshops by all such members to be met from the funds available to the Ramsar Secretariat.

Outline schedule for workshops

Each workshop will last for 1 or 1.5 days, and they will take place sequentially.

Some participants will be members of only one Working Group holding a workshop; others participate in more than one such Group. The sequence of workshops has been arranged so as to minimise the time commitment for attendance needed from such participants.

The schedule of the workshops is as follows:

Working Group 1. 1.5 days: morning of Tuesday 20 July to lunchtime Wednesday 21 July 2004.
Working Group 4. 1 day: afternoon Wednesday 21 July to lunchtime Thursday 22 July 2004.
Working Group 3. 1.5 days: afternoon of Thursday 22 July to end of Friday 23 July.
Working Group 6. 1 day: morning and afternoon of Saturday 24 July.

If you have any queries concerning the workshops, please contact Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, in the first instance.

Max Finlayson, Chair of STRP
Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, Ramsar Convention Secretariat

2 April 2004

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 7 April 2004, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.