First meeting of the Board of Directors of the Regional Ramsar Center For Training and Research on Wetlands in the Western Hemisphere - Panama

The Regional Ramsar Center, to be hosted by Panama at the "City of Knowledge" international center, was created in accordance with Resolution VII.26 with a vision to "promote research on the management and wise use of wetlands throughout the Americas through training and the development of tools for evaluating impacts, methodologies and economic use plus mechanisms for communication". The Agreement for its creation was subscribed between the Government of Panama and the Ramsar Convention Bureau on February 28, 2003 during the 29th Meeting of the Standing Committee in Gland, Switzerland.
The meeting (27 May 2003) featured representatives from Panama's administrative authority for the Convention (Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente - ANAM), the World Conservation Union's Regional Office for South America (UICN-SUR), the Ramsar Convention Bureau, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the regional representatives for the Standing Committee for the Neotropics, Argentina and Nicaragua. This first board meeting defined the internal rules for its operation in accordance with the Agreement and finalized the Terms of Reference for the future Executive Director. The Director will be chosen by the end of the month of August, and will have 60 days to present finalized internal, financial and electoral laws for the Center's operation, for approval at the next board meeting, in November 2003.

The Regional Ramsar Center is considered to be a very important stride forward for the Convention, as it is the first initiative that will support training at the regional level and thus reach out more directly to wetland managers themselves. Additionally, the Center will facilitate research activities in the Region to support implementation of the Convention's technical guidelines and will foster the establishment of strategic partnerships with national, regional, and global organizations working for the conservation of wetlands.