Sixth Pan-American Regional Meeting of the Convention on Wetlands

The sixth Pan-American Meeting of the Convention on Wetlands took place in Bogota, Colombia from 27 to 31 October. It was hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of Environment and Sustainable Development. Mr. Pablo Vieira Vice Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia opened the meeting. The Contracting Parties of the region and various observers attended, for a total of over 80 participants. 

During the meeting the Parties discussed the issues to be addressed by the 12th Conference of the Parties (COP12) to be held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in June 2015. The Parties provided inputs to the Strategic Plan process, discussed key draft Resolutions for SC49 consideration, and defined the priorities for action for the region for the next triennium. During the first day of the meeting, the contracting Parties led the “Panel on Wetlands in the Americas with a view to the Sustainable Development Goals”. 

Afterwards, all regional initiatives presented their progress and the challenges they have faced. Similarly, Contracting Parties, Intergovernmental Organizations, Cooperation Agencies and NGOs also presented their successful experiences and lessons learned during the triennium.

The governments of Colombia and the United States were presented with certificates for new Ramsar Sites. During the meeting, the Parties adopted the Bogota Declaration, with key elements about the relevance of wetlands and regional issues for the implementation of the Convention. 

Previous to the Pan-American meeting, on 25 and 26 October, the Coordination Committees of the Regional Initiatives for the Caribbean and on Mangroves and Coral Reefs held meetings. During these meetings the Committees discussed the progress since the previous meetings of the Initiatives in 2013 and agreed on ways to continue moving forward to ensure the implementation and long-term sustainability of the Initiatives. 

At the end of the meeting the participants visited the wetlands of Neuta and Pedro Palo. 

Report by Maria Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas