Wetlands for Life

About

Background

The World Wetland Network (WWN) is a global network of 500 wetland NGO’s initiated at the World NGO conference on the eve of the Ramsar COP10 meeting, November 2008, in Changwon, South Korea (see NGO declaration). It arose from the need for NGOs to maintain contact with each other at and between Ramsar meetings, but will also help with information exchange, sharing of best practice and lobbying on specific wetland issues. Previous Ramsar COPs also saw wetland NGOs working on this, and WWN is a direct result of their efforts. The WWN will also enable smaller NGOs to arrive at Ramsar COPs (Conferences of the Parties) well prepared for the meeting and more able to fully participate in the Ramsar meeting itself.

The NGO’s present at the Ramsar COP met several times and agreed a Terms of Reference and a strategic plan for the WWN. A committee of members from each continent was identified in the Terms of Reference. Chris Rostron, Head of WLI (Wetland Link International), was elected as chair along with representatives from each continental region. Since then, a yahoo chat group has been set with regular e-mail traffic, which is open to anyone to join. The committee meets over telephone conference regularly, see the minutes of the meetings below.

This website is hosted by WWT, a UK-based wetland conservation organisation that shares many similar aims of WWN and also hosts Wetland Link International.

Contacts

For more information, please contact Chris Rostron, Chair, WWN at chris.rostron@wwt.org.uk, or one of the regional reps as follows:

Africa, contact Baboucarr Mbye, Stay Green the Gambia
Asia, contact Kashiwagi, Minoru (Japan Ramsar Network)
Europe, contact Luc Hoogenstein, Vogelbescherming, The Netherlands
North America, contact Julie Langenberg, International Crane Foundation, US
Neotropics, contacat Melissa Marin, Costa Rica, FUNGAP
Oceania, contact Cassie Price, Australia, Wetland Care
Secretary of WWN, contact Esteban Biamonte, Union Ornitologico de Costa Rica
Ramsar COP10, contact Peter Lyengel (co-chair), Romania, Unesco Pro-Natura

We are also looking for sub-regional representatives, to work at the level of a group of neighbouring countries. If you are interested, please get in touch. You can find a description of the role here. The sub-regional rep will work closely with the committee members to communicate the WWN work locally, and feed back to the committee about national and local issues.

Resources and News

To join the WWN please go the 'my acount' button on the home page - if you are an NGO delivering wetland conservation work, then you should join!

We have recently created a WWN flyer in two formats. Click on simple flyer (348kb) or detailed flyer (1.2mb) for copies. If you have any resources, comments or news then please send them to Chris Rostron at the e-mail above.

Committee meeting notes

Skype meets 2011: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November

Skype meets 2010: January, February, April, May, June, August, September, October 1, October 2, December
Face to face meetings: 2010 March at Slimbridge, UK, and October in Nagoya, Japan