Dar es Salaam, 7 July 2008 - We have received the very sad message that our colleague Miriam Zacharia of Tanzania has died tragically in a plane crash on 3 July on her way from Dar es Salaam to Loliondo. The Secretariat of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) is stricken by her sudden death.

Miriam was involved in AEWA since the early days of the Agreement. She participated in all Meetings of the Parties to date, and we were already looking forward to welcoming her again at the 4th Meeting of the Parties to take place from 15-19 September 2008 in Madagascar.

We will certainly miss her very friendly personality, great dedication to nature conservation and readiness to support the implementation of AEWA in Tanzania at all times.

In the past Miriam has been instrumental in getting wetland policy included in the National Wildlife Policy of 2007. Having worked for the Wildlife Division of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism of the United Republic of Tanzania she dedicated much of her time to the conservation of wetlands and migratory waterbirds.

One recent example of her active contributions was her strong involvement in the conservation of Lake Natron – the threatened lesser flamingo breeding site of East Africa. Miriam had a lot of plans on how to develop an Integrated Management Plan for this site. We would like to honor her important international work and engagement and hope that the conservation work she initiated will continue.

Miriam will be sorely missed by many people both in Tanzania and beyond. The AEWA Secretariat will be forwarding condolences to Miriam’s family and closest friends. Although the gap she leaves behind is huge and unbearable we wish them all allot of strength, particularly in coming weeks.