Declaration of the Central American People and Wetlands

"People and Wetlands: The Vital Link"
7^th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties
to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971),
San José, Costa Rica, 10-18 May 1999

Declaration of the Central American People and Wetlands / Declaratoria de los pueblos centroamericanos y los humedales

This declaration was prepared by citizens who live near Ramsar sites in Mesoamerica. Thanks to the efforts of many institutions in the region, it is being presented on May 12, 1999 at the Seventh Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, held in San José, Costa Rica.

"We, the representatives of Central American peoples from Belize to Panama, consider our wetlands to be of vital importance as the source of life for present and future generations, providing us with abundant water and a wealth of flora and fauna that can be used as food and natural medicines. They are also a source of income that must be used sustainably. This is why we all need to unite our efforts and pursue improved quality of life for our communities, and promote activities such as tourism. By conserving our landscapes with their natural beauty, they will continue to be a source of artistic inspiration. Our wetlands provide opportunities for research and study that enrich science and universal culture. They should have the support of local, regional and international organizations, because they are lungs with great world importance, generating pure air. At the same time they are natural filters that reduce pollution and soften the pounding of natural phenomenon. It is thus everyone's obligation as individuals, and as organized forces, to defend, care and maintain them in perpetuity.

Despite the importance that wetlands have had and continue to have, lamentably human beings themselves have contributed to their deterioration. As a result we are affected by such problems as contamination of various types, lack of training and awareness at every level; the absence of land use planning; lack of appropriate legislation and noncompliance and unjust application of what does exist; and scarce funding, which restricts capacity for sustainable use and improvement in quality of life for communities, to a large extent worsening the extreme poverty of our peoples. These problems continue to grow, given the lack of real participation by communities.

Conscious of this situation and of the close relation between communities and wetlands, we the Central American peoples wish to present the following recommendations to this meeting of Contracting Parties of the Ramsar Convention:

• That all programs be created and applied in accordance with the reality experienced by each one of our communities;
• Increase awareness in populations and provide training and incentives for the sustainable use of wetlands resources;
• Promote strategic actions for land use planning and legalization of land tenure;
• Ensure the prompt and just application of legal frameworks in our countries;
• Promote economic options and the identification of markets for new products generated by the population;
• Promote community self-help in order to seek problem-solving alternatives based on their own reality.

We recommend to this meeting that funds for community development be channeled directly to interested local populations, so that we governments, organizations and peoples can be the agents of our own destiny."

-- reprinted from Humedales de Mesoamerica: Sitios Ramsar de Centroamérica y México / Mesoamerican Wetlands: Ramsar Sites in Central American and Mexico, published 1999 by the IUCN-Mesoamerica Wetlands and Coastal Zones Program with financial support from the Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD) and the IUCN Wetlands Programme, pages 36-37.