BACKGROUND
AND OBJECTIVES
The Seminar on the role of ecosystems as
water suppliers took place on 13 and 14 December
2004 in Geneva, at the Palais des Nations,
at the invitation of the Government of Switzerland
(see press
release).
The Seminar brought together policy and decision
makers, lawyers, economists, managers, technical
experts, representatives from the private
sector and NGOs, specialized in water management,
forestry, landscape and nature conservation,
etc. (see list
of participants)
The Seminar was prepared by the Swiss Agency
for the Environment, Forests and Landscape
and the UNECE secretariat of the Water Convention,
in close cooperation with that of the 1971
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Cooperation
has been sought with the UNECE Timber Committee,
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) European Forestry Commission
and its Working Party on the Management of
Mountain Watersheds, and the Ministerial Conference
on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE).
The Seminar provided a platform for governmental
officials to meet experts from international
organizations, non-governmental organizations
and the private sector, and share knowledge
on the role of forests and wetlands in the
water cycle and the advantages related to
their sustainable use, protection and restoration
to ensure sustainable water management and
therefore sustainable development. It documented
experience within and outside the UNECE region
on best practices and concrete implementation
measures aiming at integrating forests and
wetlands in sustainable water management.
To this aim Mr. Philippe Roch, Swiss State
Secretary, had addressed a letter to the Ministers
of Environment, Forestry and Agriculture in
the UNECE region inviting them to submit national
report on the practical experience of integration
of forests and wetlands in water management.
The Seminar lead to recommendations to promote
integrated policies and strategies and facilitate
their implementation. The recommendations
will be presented at the thirteenth session
of the Commission on Sustainable Development
(New York, 11-22 April 2005) and submitted
for adoption to the Parties to the Water Convention
at their fourth meeting in 2006. The Seminar
fostered the development of concrete joint
activities at international, regional, transboundary,
national and local levels, and to be considered
at the ninth meeting of the Conference of
the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention
(Kampala, 7-15 November 2005).
Moreover, in 2005, a second seminar focusing
on environmental services and financing for
the protection and sustainable use of ecosystems
will be organized, specifically devoted to
the economic and financial dimensions. It
intends to explore the experience of solidarity
between upstream and downstream communities,
specifically considering the practice of protecting
and sustainably using ecosystems (forests
and wetlands) by means of innovative economic
tools such as payments for environmental services
through successful public-private partnerships
and public-public partnerships.
POWERPOINT
PRESENTATIONS
| Integrated
mountain watershed management in the Alps
- Future needs, Mr. Peter Greminger,
Swiss Forest Agency |
|
| Protection
and restoration of water-related ecosystems:
the role of wetlands, Mr. Tobias
Salathe, Secretariat of the Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands |
English
(3.2 MB) |
| Protection
of water-related ecosystems in Belarus,
Mr. Nikolay Bambalov, National
Academy of Science, Minsk |
Russian
(3.7 MB) |
| Balancing
water needs: the experience of the IUCN
Water and Nature Initiative, Ms.
Danile Perrot-Matre, World
Conservation Union (IUCN) |
English
(3.6 MB) |
| Institutional
opportunities for an integrated approach,
Mr. Douglas McGuire, Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) |
English
(430 KB) |
| Creating
markets for ecosystem services,
Mr. Gonzalo Castro, Global Environment
Facility (GEF) |
English
(7.3 MB) |
| Sustainable
water management through ecosystem protection:
An effective interface of international
legal regimes? Mr. Sergei Vinogradov,
University of Dundee (United Kingdom) |
English
(3.9 MB) |
| Water-related
ecosystems conservation in Armenia and
perspectives for transboundary conservation,
Mr. Karen Jenderedjian, Secretariat
of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands |
English
(15 MB) |
| Draft
conclusions and recommendations
(please note that the conclusions and
recommendations will be finalizedin the
seminar report which should be ready by
January 2005) |
English
(50 KB) |
OFFICIAL
DOCUMENTS
Below are made available the official seminar
documents.
|