 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
  |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Ramsar
and IWMI sign
Memorandum of Cooperation
On 26th January, 2004, IWMI and Ramsar formalized their ongoing collaboration, by signing a Memorandum of Cooperation.
This memorandum will allow IWMI to provide technical and expert assistance to the Ramsar Bureau, and receive expertise in wetland conservation, management, and wise use.
The MedWet Initiative, through its Coordination Unit, will collaborate closely with IWMI for the development, fundraising and implementation of activities in the Mediterranean region, especially those related to the use of water in agriculture and wetlands-agriculture interactions, in line with the priorities of the Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment. The two Parties will coordinate in approaching their respective funding partners in order to raise the funds needed for the implementation of activities.
The Ramsar Bureau will provide input to IWMI for its Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture.
The Parties will create links between the Web sites of the two organizations and the Web site of the Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative, and will provide for exchange between relevant IWMI expertise and the Ramsar Experts Database maintained by Wetlands International as part of its STRP Support Service.
IWMI's research staff, working in programs under the Health & Environment Theme, have already for some time been extraordinarily helpful to the Convention's work - IWMI's Rebecca Tharme is the Co-Lead of the Ramsar STRP's Working Group 3 on "Water Resource Management" and the lead on the crosscutting issue of agriculture - and have been collaborating closely with the MedWet Coordination Unit on Mediterranean projects.
The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed by Ramsar's Peter Bridgewater and Prof. Dr Frank Rijsberman, Director General of IWMI based in Sri Lanka, effective 26 January 2004. The text of the new MOC is available here. [13/02/04]