At the 9th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Kampala , Uganda , 8-15 November 2005, the International Water Management Institute became the Ramsar Convention’s newest International Organization Partner (IOP). At COP9, which had as its thematic focus "Wetlands and Water: Supporting Life, Sustaining Livelihoods", Ramsar member countries and observers met to assess the progress of the Convention and wetland conservation to date, share knowledge and experience on technical issues, and plan their own and the Secretariat's work for the future. Many parties present welcomed IWMI alongside the Conventions four longstanding IOPs, The World Conservation Union - IUCN (www.iucn.org), the World Wide Fund for Nature - WWF (www.panda.org), Wetlands International (www.wetlands.org) and BirdLife International (www.birdlife.org), through adopting a Resolution, IX.16, to that effect. IWMI already had a Memorandum of Cooperation with Ramsar since January 2004.

Rebecca Tharme IWMI focal point for Ramsar and the co-lead of WG 3 on Water resource management, and lead of Agriculture cross-cutting group

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. There are presently 147 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 1524 wetland sites, totaling 129.2 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. Ramsar’s mission is “the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world" (www.ramsar.org).

The Ramsar Convention and its IOPs have progressively focused attention on wetlands conservation from the perspective of human well-being. They have increasingly worked in collaboration with IWMI in this regard, recognizing the Institute’s research expertise in agriculture, water and wetlands management – an area of growing significance to Ramsar member countries worldwide.

Max Finlayson current STRP chair (but will move into a new role in 2006) and has been involved with the Convention for many years

IWMI took part as an observer in the previous Ramsar Convention meeting, COP8 in 2002, supporting debate on, inter alia, Resolutions on water allocation, the findings of the World Commission on Dams, and agriculture. The Institute has also participated on the Scientific & Technical Review Panel (STRP) of the Ramsar Convention over the last triennium (2002-2005), co-leading the STRP’s Working Group on Water Resources Management and leading a cross-cutting specialist group on Agriculture. It has therefore been, and continues to be, actively involved in the preparation of new policy-relevant technical guidance on river basin management, groundwater-wetlands interactions, methodologies for the determination and implementation of environmental water requirements for rivers and other wetlands, frameworks for wetland inventory, assessment and monitoring, as well as best practice in the management of agriculture in Ramsar sites and other wetlands. IWMI has also participated in the Ramsar/Wetlands International "Tsunami Working Group", in co-writing the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’s synthesis report for the Ramsar Convention on “Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Wetlands and Water”, and as an observer to the Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative Committee. The Ramsar Convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), with which it shares a joint workplan on inland waters, are sponsors of the IWMI-led Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (CA), as well as being intergovernmental end-users of the outcomes of the assessment.

As an IOP of the Ramsar Convention, IWMI will be able to both strengthen its current relationships with the other IOPs and their extensive networks of collaborators, and foster new partnerships to meet the challenge of ensuring that wetlands are managed in an environmentally sustainable manner, so that they can continue to deliver the wide range of ecosystem services so vital for the future food and livelihoods security of people across the developing world.

Further information on IWMI’s work with the Ramsar Convention and its other IOPs can be obtained from the IWMI focal point for Ramsar, Rebecca Tharme, r.tharme@cgiar.org, or from Max Finlayson, m.finlayson@cgiar.org.

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