Today is World Wetlands Day!
World Wetlands Day is a global awareness campaign that gives a voice to wetlands everywhere, calling on nations and individuals to act and conserve these natural environments.
It is an initiative of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance – also commonly referred to as the Ramsar Convention – which the CIC played a key role in establishing back in 1971.
This year’s theme is Wetlands and Human Wellbeing, highlighting how the health of wetlands and people deeply are intertwined.
Countless humans around the world depend on wetlands as an essential source of life-sustaining services. At the same time – without human intervention – we will continue to lose our access to the water and food generated by wetlands, as well as the benefits to livelihoods and our climate.
The importance of the relationship between humans and wetlands is highlighted by the Ramsar Convention’s focus on sustainable use throughout its work in recent years.
As part of this World Wetlands Day, the Convention has specifically stated that “investing in the sustainable use of wetlands means investing in the future of humanity.”
These are themes that the CIC will be exploring within its capacity as a recently appointed Intergovernmental Organisation (IGO) of the Ramsar Convention.
Members of the CIC actively engaged in setting up this Convention in 1971 in order to ensure that migratory bird species, their associated habitats and flyways are conserved for future generations
As one of the few stakeholders with a vested interest in migratory bird health, hunters have always taken action to support wetlands, particularly within the framework of the global flyways that link them as part of their critical breeding cycles.
Today, we see this through the introduction and maintenance of feeding areas and resting stops, as well through invasive predator control.
As part of the CIC’s new role within Ramsar, the organisation will be providing its first technical inputs to the Convention at next week’s 26th Meeting of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP26) in Gland, Switzerland.
Particular agenda items to be explored at STRP26 are the:
- Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) Workplan 2023-2025
- 5th Strategic Plan of the Convention on Wetlands – Targets and Indicators
More news will be released next week as we bring you coverage from the STRP26, which takes place from 5-8 February 2024.
