The 11th Session of the Conférence of Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention was held in Bucharest (Romania) from 6 to 13 July 2012. OMPO was represented at this important event by Patrick Triplet, the OMPO Project Manager for Africa, member of the French delegation.

Patrick took an active part in meetings of the African delegates intended to examine the draft resolutions to be submitted to the COP. The issue on the recurring problems faced by authorities in charge of the management of wetlands and protected areas in Africa was also discussed. Most delegates strongly wished training courses to be organized in their countries to enhance their capacity to implement the Convention on Wetlands. In this sense, interviews took place with the representatives of Algeria, Mauritania, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Senegal to rank priorities and take into account their concerns.

The 22 resolutions presented are downloadable from the website of the Ramsar Convention:

http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-documents-cops-cop11-cop11-resolutions/main/ramsar/1-31-58-500%5E25837_4000_0__

Among these, special attention is to be given to resolution 1, 6, 9 and 15.

Resolution 1, was intended to determine if the Ramsar Secretariat should remain under the auspices of the IUCN or whether it should be placed under the authority of the United Nations. It was decided to maintain the status quo. This measure was accompanied by a freeze of contributions and thus of available funds.

Resolution 6 on the “Partnerships and synergies with multilateral environmental agreements and other institutions” strengthens the link between the Ramsar Convention and AEWA so to facilitate the implementation of joint activities with NGOs such as OMPO, who will in the future be able to bring their experience to the work of the Convention.

Resolution 9, entitled “Integrated framework and guidelines to avoiding, mitigating and compensating for wetland losses” will provide a better understanding of the dangers affecting wetlands and put forward means of action to limit them.

Finally, the resolution 15 “Agriculture-wetland interactions: rice paddy and pest control" adopted after long discussions, marks a step. The use of pesticides and GMOs in rice paddies affecting the biological diversity and ecosystem services of wetlands will now be strongly limited.

The EU Member States plus Croatia, an upcoming member state, under the leadership of Denmark and France, constituted a decisive force of proposals throughout the discussions.

Its strong involvement in Africa and Eastern Europe gives OMPO an important role; its capacity of expertise in wetlands and waterbirds justifies its active engagement in projects of the Ramsar Convention.