Side Event
International Systems of Protected Areas: Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, UNESCO-MAB World Network of Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage Sites
Organizer
UNESCO-MAB & World Heritage Centre & Ramsar Convention
Date and Time
10 February 2004 18:30 - 20:0
<br><i>Jointly organised by the Secretariats of these three instruments.</i> <br><br> The draft programme of work on protected areas to be examined at Cop-7 (UNEP/CBD/COP/7/15), under Goal 1.1, makes reference to "existing international systems of protected areas", including the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971), the World Heritage Convention (1972) and the UNESCO MAB Programme (1970)". These three instruments are also named as "main partners" for many of the other goals of this draft programme of work. <br><br> This side event will address the following questions: <br>- How do these three instruments relate to the CBD? <br>- How do the sites designated under these instruments "fit into" national and regional systems of protected areas? <br>- How can countries "use" these designations to best advantage? <br>- Sites with multiple designations: too many labels and too many constraints? <br>- What are donors’ views of these international designations? <br><br> The side event will start with brief introductions to these instruments by Peter Bridgewater (Ramsar Wetlands), N. Ishwaran (World Heritage) and Jane Robertson (MAB biosphere reserves). This will be followed by illustrations of their implementation by representatives of different countries around the world, the views of donor agencies such as GEF and GTZ, and a question and answer session. The side event moderator is being sought from IUCN. <br><br> Relevant links: <a href=http://www.ramsar.org>www.ramsar.org</a> ; <a href=http://www.unesco.org/whc>www.unesco.org/whc</a> ; <a href=http://www.unesco.org/mab>www.unesco.org/mab</a>