The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

World Wetlands Day 2006 in Iraq

Clayton Rubec of Environment Canada (Clay.Rubec@ec.gc.ca) and Dr. Hassan Janabi of the Iraq Ministry of Water Resources in Baghdad report that: "On February 2, 2006, colleagues in Iraq joined in celebrating World Wetlands Day for the first time. At a meeting organized by Centre for the Restoration of the Iraqi Marshes of the Ministry of Water Resources, representatives of government agencies, non-government organizations and universities discussed Iraq's programs focusing on restoration of the Mesopotamian marshes. This follows on from Iraq's stated strong commitment to Ramsar Convention goals presented by its delegation at the COP9 meetings of Ramsar in Kampala, Uganda, last November. It is expected that Iraq will be able to complete the internal mechanisms to proceed with Ramsar Convention accession within a few months. The February 2 WWD meeting was well covered by the media including local and international television. Several high profile government officials attended as well as representatives of the Marsh Arabs from the southern marshes. Presentations by the Ministry of Water Resources and Nature Iraq on the status of marsh restoration programs were included in the agenda."

Ekram Kaissm (ekramkassim@yahoo.com), MoWR/CRIM, has sent these photos of the event:

An address by the Minister of MoWR

New pictures of Hawizeh Marsh

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 15 February 2006, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.