Posted on May, 18 1999

San Jose, Costa Rica - The 7th Meeting of the Convention of Parties to Ramsar, which ended May 18, emphasized the need to ensure adequate technical and financial resources to preserve freshwater ecological functions and services. This followed discussions that will affect wetlands and water resources into the next millenium.

With the theme of "People and Wetlands: The Vital Link", the international environmental community focused on concerns about growing threats to the conservation of wetlands worldwide. In just 21 years, the global demand for water has doubled.

By the end of the meeting, WWF - the conservation organisation - counted some positive steps towards conservation of wetlands and water resources even as it recognised the need to do so much more. Among the successes:

- Cuba's accession to the Convention and the designation of the 500,000 hectare Cienegas de Zapata wetlands;

- Brazil's announcement of Baixada Maranhense and Parcel de Manuel Luiz. Cuba's and Brazil's designations constitute ten percent of the one of WWF's "Living Waters" Campaign's goals, that of conserving 25 million hectares of freshwater worldwide in the next three years;

- The government of Colombia's agreement - taken since joining the Convention only a few months ago - to promote designation of the unique Andean paramo systems;

- Agreement from India to designate 25 new Ramsar sites; and

- The expected commitment of 106 countries present to modestly increase their monetary contributions to the Convention, conserve intertidal wetlands, control the invasion of non-native flora and fauna that threaten native species and disrupt ecosystems, and promote greater community participation including from indigenous groups in wetlands conservation.

These successes reflect worldwide recognition that the time to act is now in order to avert a freshwater crisis, but even more resources are needed to help translate good intentions of Parties into effective conservation results. WWF also recommends that:

- Countries commit to sustainably managing entire catchments and river systems;

- Countries with some of the world's largest wetland sites get these sites listed under Ramsar - for example, Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the Sundarbans of India and Bangladesh;

- Small-island nations and countries with overseas territories list and conserve more Ramsar sites.

At the launch of the "Living Waters Campaign", WWF International's Director General Claude Martin noted that "including ecological concerns in freshwater management is one of the biggest challenges we will face in the next century."

Contacts:

Jaime Pittock, tel.: +506 209-4735, +506 239 00 22 or +61 2 9281 5515, e-mail: jpittock@wwf.org.au ; Lisa Hadeed, tel: +1 202 778 9765; e-mail: lisa.hadeed@wwfus.org; Olivier van Bogaert, tel: +41 22 364 95 54; e-mail: ovanbogaert@wwfnet.org .