(13/10/09)
- World Wetland Day materials for 2010 (in English, French and Spanish) are now available from RAMSAR. Mailing of the materials on
CD-ROM with hard copy poster and leaflet will take place as from October 2009. Contact the RAMSAR Secretariat at wwd@ramsar.org
provide postal address and specify which of the three language versions you would like. The materials can be downloaded here.
(01/10/09)
- World Wetlands Day 2010 will be held on February 2 , 2010. It will have as the central theme: "Caring for wetlands - an answer to climate change."
WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997. Each year, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and groups of citizens have taken
advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar
Convention in particular . From 1997 to 2009, the RAMSAR Convention’s Web site has posted reports from more than 98 countries of WWD activities
Translated outreach materials from the WWDs are available here.
(01/10/09)
- Published by FAO in 2006 and jointly produced by FAO, IUCN and IWMI, "Stakeholder-oriented valuation to support water resources
management processes: Confronting concepts with local practice" represents a different approach to the valuation of natural resources,
one that considers how to support stakeholders in managing their water demands. Various methods have been developed in the past that
allow users to express the value of water-related goods and services in quantitative, monetary units but the authors of this publication
note that these methods are often complicated and demanding in terms of the time, expertise, and data required. The report takes a new
approach, exploring how to improve the connection between the well-documented analytical efforts to place a value on water resources and
the actual water resources management processes. This publication is intended to assist stakeholders in this by providing a first outline
for a stakeholder-oriented water valuation process. Link to the report (1.86 MB).
(14/09/09)
- An Integrated Wetland Assessment Toolkit : "A guide to good practice" has been published by IUCN. With the tools, it should be possible
to measure the economic value of a wetland, assess the species that live there and the importance of a wetland for people’s livelihood.
The Ramsar Secretary General, Anada Tiéga, recognizes in the Foreword to the toolkit the importance of the approach used and "urges all
those concerned with managing wetlands to make use of the toolkit as a means to secure the wise us of wetlands". Link to the report.
(30/05/09)
- "Mapping a Better Future: How Spatial Analysis Can Benefit Wetlands and Reduce Poverty in Uganda." Mapping a Better Future: How Spatial
Analysis Can Benefit Wetlands and Reduce Poverty in Uganda uses an innovative approach to integrate spatial data on poverty and wetlands
use. Drawing on Uganda’s rich baseline of wetland data and poverty mapping, the report provides a detailed examination of the links
between ecosystem services and the location of poor communities and presents practical lessons for policy-makers across government.
Link to the report.
(30/05/09)
- "Pay: Establishing Payments for Watershed Services". Watershed services are key in creating water security for downstream water
users. Providing incentives by paying land and water managers to maintain watershed services is an innovative way of strengthening
water security. A wide variety of cases now exist around the world from which we can draw lessons of the do’s and don’ts relating
to payment schemes for watershed services. Link to the report.
(12/10/09)
- Formally launched at COP10, the publication "Culture and Wetlands: a Ramsar Guidance Document" has been prepared by Ramsar’s Culture
Working Group and is now available in low resolution PDF formats in English, French and Spanish. Link to the report.
