WetCap Project on Capacity Building in North Africa gets off the ground

Bonn, 9 March 2009 - A new 3-year AEWA project on “Strengthening waterbird and wetland conservation capacities in North Africa (WetCap)” is embarking on its first year of implementation as of this month.

Sponsored by the Spanish Agency on International Development Cooperation (AECID), the WetCap project will focus on capacity building activities in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Mauritania.

Most importantly, the first year of implementation foresees the adaptation of the Training and Awareness Raising framework Programme developed under WOW to the five project countries, thus preparing the material for the training of trainers and of local professionals concerned with waterbird and wetland conservation, planned to take place during the course of the project’s second and third year.

Another activity to be realized in year 1, foresees a regional training workshop on the use of the Critical Site Network Tool developed under WOW. This activity, which will enable the workshop participants to review the existing data for their region, is planned to be followed up by targeted gap-filling surveys and monitoring field missions during the second and third years of the WetCap project.

The WetCap project perfectly complements the WOW project by implementing its objectives in North Africa, a region which has not been in the focus of the WOW project so far. Moreover it sets a first positive example of how the outcomes of the WOW project can be used beyond the implementation phase of the WOW project itself, thus ensuring its longevity. The 4-year WOW project will soon enter into its last year of implementation.

Another important component of the WetCap project, which is not directly linked to the WOW project, foresees the allocation of small grants to local waterbird and wetland conservation projects in the five project countries. This activity, planned to take effect in early 2010, will, at the same time, help realize the establishment of the AEWA Small Grants Fund, which is foreseen in the AEWA Strategic Plan, adopted at the 4^th session of the Meeting of the Parties (September 2008, Madagascar).

In the wider context of the AEWA framework, the WetCap project also significantly contributes to the implementation of the African Initiative, which was initiated at the 4^th session of the Meeting of the Parties to AEWA and, which provides a mandate to increase efforts to strengthen capacity for waterbird and habitat conservation in Africa.

The AEWA Secretariat will provide the overall supervision of the WetCap project, supported by a Regional Coordinator in charge of the implementation of the activities. The Regional Coordinator will be integrated into the existing structure of the Moroccan Wetlands Centre in Rabat, which was established under the Moroccan Government in the framework of a LIFE project in 2003, in close cooperation with the project partner SEO/BirdLife. The Wetlands Centre is currently staffed with two SEO staff members.

It is the first time that an AEWA project is being funded by a development agency and the AEWA Secretariat very much hopes that further cooperative initiatives with the development sector will be able to be established in future.

For more information on the WetCap project please read the Project Summary Sheet in English and French

English
Français

or contact the AEWA Secretariat:

Ms. Catherine Lehmann

Programme Officer UNEP/AEWA

Tel: +49 (0)228 815-2453

clehmann@unep.de

For more information on the Wings over Wetlands project please visit the WOW website.

More information on the African Initiative:

Resolution 4.9: African Initiative for the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats in Africa

AEWA E-Newsletter articles:

• Issue 19 (March 2009)
• Issue 18 (December 2008)
  
  

AEWA Press Release: New initiative gives boost to waterbird conservation in Africa (October 2008)