Draft Resolutions for Ramsar COP11

According to the Convention's "Rules of Procedure for meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties", all Draft Resolutions to be considered by the COP will be made available to the Parties at least three months prior to the opening of the meeting. As of 5 April 2012, therefore, all Draft Resolutions that have been approved by the Standing Committee for consideration by the Conference of the Parties are available in English, French, and Spanish here. General reports and background information documents are also being posted as they become ready and will all be available by 5 June 2012, one month prior to the opening of the COP, here. [06/04/12]

Working together for wetlands: Exchange training at Champ-Pittet centre

Located in the heart of the « Grande Cariçaie », the largest lakeside marsh area in Switzerland, Champ-Pittet has welcomed Ms Ouassila Berrebib for a five-week stay to share knowledge on wetland centre management. Ouassila works at El- Kala National Park in Algeria which is located at the extreme north-east of the country and is listed as a Wetland of International Importance. More [04/04/12] 

2-3 March 2012, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: African Ramsar National Focal Points meet at MEA Negotiations Training Workshop to prepare for Ramsar COP11

Ramsar National Focal Points (26 delegates) met on a two-day Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) negotiations training workshop from 2 to 3 March 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop was organised to enhance the capacity of Ramsar National Focal Points to prepare for effective negotiation during the next Ramsar COP11 in Bucharest, Romania. This workshop follows the regional workshop for Africa on “Updating National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plan”. More [02/04/12]

BirdLife’s State of the world’s birds project

Here is a message from BirdLife Americas Secretariat in Dominican Republic about available resources on the State of the world's birds.

BirdLife is the International Thematic Focal Point for birds to the CBD Clearing-House Mechanism which aims to share knowledge and exchange information. As part of this responsibility, BirdLife’s State of the world’s birds project aims to provide up-to-date, scientifically credible, relevant, accessible materials that can support effective conservation action, learning and advocacy. Read more: ‘State of the world’s birds’—more than just a report. [28/03/12]

Serbia's Koviljsko-Petrovaradinski Rit Ramsar Site

The Secretariat is very pleased to announce that Serbia's Department for Protection of Nature and Biodiversity, Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, has designated Koviljsko-Petrovaradinski Rit (8,292 hectares, 45°10'40"N 020°04'10"E), a Special Nature Reserve and BirdLife IBA in Vojvodina province, as that country's tenth Wetland of International Importance. Read more. [26/03/12]

Who's Where?
 

For more old Ramsar Secretariat travel news, see also 'Who Was Where', 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 

Yesterday's News

Australia consolidates and expands Kakadu Ramsar Site

In 1980, the government of Australia first designated a significant part of the famous Kakadu National Park and World Heritage natural and cultural site in the Northern Territory, and it added another large part in 1989. Now the two Kakadu Ramsar Sites have been consolidated into one and extended by an additional 600,000 hectares to conform fully to the boundaries of the National Park, now covering 1,979,766 hectares. A summary description of the site can be found on the Annotated Ramsar List. [26/03/12]

Congratulations to IWMI, winner of the 2012 Stockholm Water Prize!

This morning, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) named “The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) … the 2012 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate for their pioneering research that has served to improve agriculture water management, enhance food security, protect environmental health and alleviate poverty in developing countries.”

IWMI has been formally recognised by the Ramsar Convention as one of its five International Organisation Partners (IOPs) since COP9 in 2005 and the Ramsar Secretariat congratulates all staff at IWMI on the occasion of this well-deserved prize. IOPs are recognised for their long-term commitments to wetland conservation and wise use and their contributions to supporting the Convention's implementation. IWMI staff have made, and continue to make significant contributions to the work of Ramsar’s Scientific & Technical Review Panel (STRP) including on water management, agriculture and remote sensing. Read SIWI’s full article here. [22/03/2012]

World Water Day, 22 March 2012 – Message from SG Anada Tiéga

“Saving water means more food for people”

For those of us living in the developed world, imagine the shock of waking up one morning to discover that there is no water coming out of our taps. The reality is that access to improved drinking-water sources is already a daily issue for billions of people worldwide; today, water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the people on our planet.

Today’s World Water Day message is thought-provoking: “The World is thirsty because we are hungry” and many of our actions, such as the management of irrigation systems and domestic water supply, need to be improved to reduce water loss. Take a minute to think of all the water used to produce the food we eat. Our world is thirsty and a key consequence of the water crisis is to threaten our food security, which relies on fresh, clean water. Read the full statement in English | French | Spanish [22/03/2012]