Featured in In the Daily Buzz - Jan 19, 2012
Carla Ahern, Director of Communications, Stewardship and Education Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area
I had the honour of attending the fifth Pan American meeting on the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands in Jamaica in December. The Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area was invited to present a poster and give a presentation on our wetland and interpretation centre.
A special thanks to the Regional District of Central Kootenay (Area C director Larry Binks) for a grant that made this trip possible.
As many here may know, the CVWMA is a designated Ramsar site, which means it is recognized to have international importance. The Government of Canada is a contracting party in the Ramsar Convention and has designated 37 Ramsar sites across Canada in the last few decades. (For more information on Ramsar, visit the Web site at www.ramsar.org.)
Canada was represented at the meeting by Elizabeth Roberts of Environment Canada in Ottawa. I went as an observer, able to make comments and ask questions, and was asked to present a poster and give a presentation.
Another Canadian observer was the director of education for Ducks Unlimited Canada in Winnipeg, Richard Wishart.
The meeting consisted of two days of panel sessions where experts talked about such issues as wetland management, wetlands and climate change, and wetlands and tourism and recreation. Then there were two days of discussions on resolutions to the Ramsar Convention by the countries (contracting parties). These discussions were in preparation for the 11th meeting of the contracting parties in Romania in 2012. There were discussions on regional experiences and progress as well as priorities for action for the region.
It was fascinating to see the process by which Ramsar operates. Delegates from contracting parties in the Americas (North, South and Central) as well as the Caribbean were represented – close to 30 countries.
I created a poster that highlighted the mandate and mission of the CVWMA as well as our interpretation centre and programs. (This related well to the theme of wetlands and tourism and recreation.) I also had the opportunity to give a 15-minute Power Point presentation to all the delegates and observers.
I received a lot of positive comments about the poster and presentation, answered many questions over the four days and made some great contacts with others involved in Ramsar wetland sites.
We also got a tour of a Ramsar site in Jamaica. It is located in historic Port Royal and consists of cays, shoals, mangrove lagoons, coral reefs and seagrass beds. We got a chance to take a boat ride into the mangroves and see some birds we don’t get around here, including nesting brown pelicans and frigatebirds.
If you would like to keep up to date on the CVWMA’s projects,
programs and activities, get on our e-mail list by sending us your address at askus@crestonwildlife.ca.
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