The Ramsar Convention Manual.pdf

A Guide to the Convention on Wetlands, (Ramsar, Iran, 1971)
The Ramsar CEPA List is the Secretariat's public e-mail discussion group whose members include both the designated CEPA
National Focal Points from the Parties and interested members of the public. The CEPA list exists in separate versions for
English, French, and Spanish-speakers and, as of December 2003, has a total of about 500 members.
4.5.3 World Wetlands Day and WWD materials
The 2 nd of February each year is World Wetlands Day, marking the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2
February 1971 (it was formally signed the next day). WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and has grown remarkably
since then. Each year, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the
community 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. Every year since 1997, the Conventions Web site has posted
reports from more than 80 countries of WWD activities of all sizes and shapes, from lectures and seminars, nature walks,
children's art contests, sampan races, and community clean-up days, to radio and television interviews and letters to
newspapers, to the launch of new wetland policies, new Ramsar Sites, and new programmes at the national level.
Each year the Ramsar Secretariat has produced an array of promotional items which are available free of charge to everyone
who is planning World Wetlands Day activities for their communities. These have included decorative and instructional posters,
stickers, brochures and leaflets, bookmarks, pocket calendars, screen savers, quotable background papers, and videos, and each
year the Secretariat is able to offer, not only the new material, but whatever has been left over from preceding years as well.
The latest WWD page on the Ramsar Web site shows a listing of what promotional materials are presently available at any
time: http://ramsar.org/wwd2004_index.htm.
4.5.4 The Wetland Conservation Awards
The Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award was established in 1996 to recognize and honor, every three years, individuals,
organizations, and government agencies that have made a significant contribution to wetland conservation and sustainable use
in any part of the world. In the first two award cycles, in 1999 and 2002, the three Awards were each accompanied by an "Evian
Special Prize" of US$ 10,000, generously donated by the Danone Groupe.
1999: In ceremonies in San Jose, Costa Rica, at Ramsar COP7 in 1999, the prize for individuals was shared by Vitaly G.
Krivenko (Russian Federation) and Victor Pulido (Peru); the prize for non-governmental organizations was shared by the Lake
Naivasha Riparian Association (Kenya) and the Society for the Protection of Prespa (Greece); die prize in die government/nongovernment
coalition category was won by the Pacific Estuary Conservation Program (Canada).
2002: In ceremonies in Valencia, Spain, at Ramsar COP8 in 2002, the Awards went to Banrock Station Wines (Australia), the
Chilika Lake Development Authority (India), and The NGO Trinational Initiative for the Morava-Dyje Floodplain (Austria and
the Czech and Slovak Republics), and additional Recognitions of Excellence were conferred upon Dr Monique Coulet of
France and Dr Max Finlayson of Australia.
4.5.5 The Wise Use Resource Centre
The Wise Use Resource Centre is a permanent and evolving section of the Ramsar Web site (http://ramsar.org/
wurc_index.htm) which, so far, includes five initiatives.
□ The Ramsar CEPA Programme (for Communication, Education, and Public Awareness), first adopted for 1999-2002
and thoroughly revised for 2002-2005 by Resolution VIII.31 (2002), includes, amongst other things, an Internet-based
clearinghouse of news, information, and materials to assist the Parties and others in developing and exchanging ideas
about wetlands CEPA. This mini-Web site was launched in April 2001 and is updated almost daily - it also includes
contact details of Ramsar governmental and non-governmental National Focal Points for CEPA activities in all of the
Contracting Parties.
□ The Wise Use Resource Library is a smorgasbord of reprinted technical publications and references to many others
covering a range of subjects associated with the wise use of wetlands. It also serves as an index to such useful materials
on the Ramsar Web site as examples of national wetland strategies/policies, Ramsar Site management plans, and Ramsar
Information Sheets.
□ The Wetland Restoration mini-Web site was developed by the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP),
particularly by Dr Bill Streever representing the Society of Wetland Scientists, and posted on the Ramsar Web site in
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