The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

World Wetlands Day 2006

World Wetlands Day
2nd February 2006

'In the face of poverty . . . wetlands are lifelines'

It is well past the time for some news about our World Wetlands Day preparations for February 2006, and we send our apologies for this very late information on the materials we are producing to support your plans for the coming year . Of course, our 9th Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP9) will be taking place in Uganda this coming November, and we're all just a little busy!

Our suggested theme for World Wetlands Day 2006, 'Wetlands as a tool in poverty alleviation', is closely linked to the theme of the COP, which is 'Wetlands and water - supporting life, sustaining livelihoods'. An entire day of COP9 will be devoted to two technical sessions focused on the role of wisely managed wetlands in poverty alleviation, and these will be supported by at least one major side event. These activities are intended to explore the many ways that wetlands can and should play a role in poverty alleviation.

Wherever you live, you don't have to look far to see the degradation and loss of wetland ecosystems and the services they provide, yet, if properly managed, wetlands can be a vital lifeline for the poor. This is especially true for the rural poor, who comprise three-quarters of all poor households worldwide. Wetlands are a primary source of rural income, and they can become vitally important when other sources of income fail.

We hope that wherever you are, you will join us in developing this focus in your country for WWD 2006. We have decided this year to produce two posters, each 60 X 40 cm, a format somewhat smaller than in the past but affording us the opportunity to produce two related posters instead of one very large one. The posters will use two images - a paddy field in Asia and a floating market in Africa - to represent some of the services that wetlands provide that can play a role in the alleviation of poverty. Each poster will have the common slogan 'In the face of poverty . . . wetlands are lifelines' as well as a sub-theme unique to each. We will also have a set of two stickers based on the designs of the posters (http://ramsar.org/wwd/6/wwd2006_index.htm).

So we hope you will join with us on 2nd February and celebrate the capacity of wetlands to help in poverty alleviation on a global scale, and here are some additional points for you to consider:

• We encourage everyone to consider customising and printing our posters and stickers using the original design files, which we will be happy to supply to you on CD-ROM. This has many advantages: making the images and text relevant to your own situation; translating the text into your local or national language; printing many, many more copies than we could hope to supply. On our Web site, at http://www.ramsar.org/outreach_materials_translations4.htm, you can see what some people did last year and below you will find the technical details on the design files we will make available. Please write to wwd@ramsar.org if you would like to receive one of the CD-ROMs - and don't forget to include your mailing address. We will be sending the CD-ROMs by the end of August/early September.

• In line with our distribution method last year, we will be sending a large number of printed copies of our WWD materials to your country's Ramsar Administrative Authority. You will find the person in your country to contact at http://ramsar.org/wwd/6/wwd2006_list.htm. If this person is unable to supply copies, or if you experience problems in making contact, please write to the Ramsar Secretariat at wwd@ramsar.org.

• And very important - please don't forget to tell the Secretariat what you did on WWD for the reports section of our WWD Web pages - reports from last year can be viewed at http://ramsar.org/wwd/5/wwd2005_reports.htm. We always do our best to include all the reports we receive, but we would really appreciate all reports to be sent to us by May 2006. Photos, text and sample materials are all welcome. Contact ramsar@ramsar.org.

-- Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer, for the Communications Team

The list of contacts in each of the Party states can be found at http://ramsar.org/wwd/6/wwd2006_list.htm.

Electronic formats

For those who wish to print quantities of the poster or stickers for themselves or to adapt them to their own languages and imagery, we have also produced them in a variety of electronic formats. There are:

CD-ROM 1: For use with a MAC or PC, this CD includes the poster and stickers in QuarkXpress Passport 6.0 and 4.11. With this electronic version you will be able to edit the text (but not the images) to produce a personalised version of the poster and stickers. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU (OR YOUR PRINTER/PUBLISHER) WILL NEED TO HAVE THE APPROPRIATE SOFTWARE TO OPEN THESE FILES.

This CD will also include the poster and stickers as .TIF files, BUT PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO EDIT THESE VERSIONS.

CD-ROM 2: For use with a MAC or PC, this CD will include the poster and stickers as Adobe Photoshop files: Adobe Photoshop CS (TIF) and Illustrator CS. This version will allow you to personalise the poster and stickers, changing the text and the images as you wish. Please be aware that these will be very large documents and some computers may not be able to open them.

On this CD there are also Adobe Acrobat PDF versions that will simply allow you to print the materials without being able to edit them. For this you will need Adobe Acrobat 5.0.

Once you have determined with your designer which of these formats would be preferable, please request either CD1 or CD2 from the Ramsar Secretariat, wwd@ramsar.org.

Examples of the translation and local adaptation of Ramsar materials:

Since its inception, the production and distribution of materials for World Wetlands Day have been financially supported by the Evian Project funded by the Danone Group.

For further information about World Wetlands Day or the 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 ). Posted 27 August 2005, Dwight Peck and Sandra Hails, Ramsar.