40 Years of Wetland Conservation _ Ramsar Launches 40th Anniversary Logo

On 2 February 2011, on World Wetlands Day, the international community will also be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Over the past 40 years the Ramsar Convention has contributed greatly to the conservation and wise use of wetlands around the world through local and national action and international cooperation.

With the launch of the 40th anniversary campaign logo in Oman on 7 June 2010, the Ramsar Secretariat is inviting all who care about wetlands - governments, NGOs and civil society – to begin planning their contribution to next year’s festivities in celebration of 40 years of wetland action.

In a recent interview conducted on the sidelines of the 15th Anniversary of AEWA, Ramsar’s Deputy Secretary General, Nick Davidson reflected on the link between wetlands and waterbirds, highlighting that maintaining and reversing the declines in wetlands is also key to halting the alarming declines in waterbirds. In his statement he emphasized that this could only be done by engaging all relevant sectors.

“We need to work with the water sector, the energy sector, the food sector because their business depends as much on water and the wetlands that deliver them as does ours and, of course, maintaining the wetlands and reversing the declines in wetlands means waterbirds will continue to be able to use them” underlined Davidson.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, a number of special activities and events are being planned. These include a commemorative book, a photo competition to celebrate Ramsar Sites, a number of special events to be held in Geneva on 2 February 2011 as well as a series of events leading up to the day in a number of countries.

Given the close link between wetland and waterbird conservation, the AEWA Secretariat plans to support the Ramsar anniversary campaign through public awareness activities and would like to encourage all AEWA stakeholders to also take note of and plan events to mark the 40th Anniversary of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

The AEWA and Ramsar Secretariats, BirdLife International and Wetlands International also used the 15th Anniversary of AEWA Symposium in The Hague, which took place 14-15 June 2010 to sign a historic collaborative agreement to redouble their efforts to work together to conserve migratory waterbird species and their critical habitats in Africa and Eurasia. This agreement builds on and is a result of the successful cooperation between these organisations in the framework of the UNEP-GEF Wings Over Wetlands (WOW) Project.

Further Information

Please see the Ramsar Convention website and the press release on the launch of the 40th Anniversary Ramsar logo for more information.

Or contact: Ms Oana Penea, Communications Officer, Ramsar Secretariat