The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

World Wetlands Day 2004 -- Hungary

REPORT
On the project "Celebration of the World Wetlands Day 2004
at Central European University (Hungary)"
"From the Mountains to the Sea" - Wetlands at Work for Us.

Goal: The goal of the project was to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands within the multinational community of the Central European University.

Background information: The Central European University (CEU) is a postgraduate multinational institution, which prepares its graduates to be the future world high-level decision-makers. It is essential that these decision-makers are aware of the importance of wetlands and of how people could benefit from the functions and services wetlands provide when preparing different policies and strategies for sustainable development. In order to raise the awareness of the CEU community in regards with the significance of wetlands, students from the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy from the academic year 2003/2004 initiated the celebration of the World Wetlands Day 2004 at the Central European University.

Project activities: The following activities were prepared in order to achieve the project goal:
- An invitation letter was send to everybody administered at the university and to the Headquarter of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (Hungary).
- A pop-up message was posted in the personal accounts of the people administered in the University (students and professors).
- Two notice boards were prepared (see pictures on the homepage).
- Two hundred double-sided A4 leaflets were prepared and distributed in the University. *
- Four movies were played in the Auditorium of the University.
- A power-point presentation was prepared and presented to the CEU Community.
- A home-page of the event was prepared and uploaded on the University's "personal" homepages. See the link:
http://www.personal.ceu.hu/students/03/nature_conservation/
- A summary of the project, together with a link to the homepage of the project was posted on the home-page of the University. See the link: http://www.ceu.hu/student_activities.html

Project Outcomes:
The following awareness raising and educational materials were prepared to acquaint the CEU Community with the services and functions of wetlands and with the reasons for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands:
- Two notice boards (see pictures on the homepage).
- Two hundred double-sided A4 leaflets.*
- A home-page of the event: http://www.personal.ceu.hu/students/03/nature_conservation/

Project coordinators:
Iordan Hristov - jordan_hristov@yahoo.com
Svetoslav Apostolov - spapostolov@hotmail.com
Organizing committee:
Brandon Holland
Fiona Borthwick
Sattor Jabbor
Stanislava Boshnakova
Oana Boingeanu
Marina Olshanskaya
Mojca Langerholc

For further information about World Wetlands Day or the 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 ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted 10 March 2004, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.