The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

World Wetlands Day 2006 in Bosnia and Herzegovina

World Wetlands Day 2006 - Bosnia and Herzegovina

In order to celebrate the World Wetlands Day, the Institute of Agroecology and Soil Science organizes various happenings in order to inform the public about the values of Ramsar convention and Ramsar areas, with the theme 'Wetlands as a tool in poverty alleviation'.

On 2nd February Prof. dr Mihajlo Markovic, the director of the Institute and Mladen Babic, B. Sc. agriculture, held a press conference about WWD. The host of the meeting was the local authorities in Srbac town, which is the biggest in the wetland region Bardacha (in 2005 we successfully applied for SGF with the "Pilot Project on the Restoration and Rehabilitation Wetland Region Bardacha").

The aim was also to promote of public awareness for the value of the Bardacha wetlands for a balanced wise use management. The designation of this wetland as a RS would be the first in the Republic of Srpska with strategic importance for the country. On this occasion the posters and the leaflets (2nd February - World Wetlands Day) for WWD 2006 have been presented. The WWD Exhibition was posted in the hall of the building where the press conference was held. The exhibition included 3 Ramsar Exhibition posters, with the text in English language, as well as lot of pictures and texts describing wetlands and its importance in local Serbian language. The exhibition was posted until 10th February.

Several newspapers published informations about WWD and the press-conference. There was also a report in the local TV news. Our evaluation of the event: we were very pleased by the interest and support offered by the public administrations (town, region). However, we were disappointed by the low number of visitors and next year we will invest more effort into communication and choice of the day (perhaps a weekend).

Also, in January 2006, the Workshop took place in the Bardacha region with the aim to introduce and discuss ways and opportunities of involving all interested stakeholders in development of the nature area, starting from the recommendations of the relevant conventions, international standards and documents. Participants of the Workshop were representatives of the local and republic authorities, international experts (professors from United Kingdom, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina), NGOs and local inhabitants. The event was attended by over 50 participants.

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 13 March 2006, updated 3 April 2006, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.