The CIC and Ramsar Implement Measures as Part of New Partnership
Director General of the CIC, Sebastian Winkler (left) and Secretary General of Ramsar, Dr. Musonda Mumba (right)
Earlier this year, the CIC was accepted as an Intergovernmental Observer Organisation of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, a decision that came as part of the 62nd Meeting of the Standing Committee.
This new partnership formalised a long-standing relationship between the CIC and Ramsar, with CIC Members having played a key role in the establishment of the Convention back in 1971.
Director General of the CIC, Sebastian Winkler, and Secretary General of Ramsar, Dr. Musonda Mumba, met in Gland, Switzerland at the Ramsar Headquarters this week to identify key areas of collaboration on the road of ahead, with a particular focus on how the CIC can leverage its extended network to support the Convention.
In the immediate future, the CIC will be present and provide technical input to Ramsar’s 26th Meeting of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel through its CIC Applied Science Division, with the meeting set to take place in February, 2024.
Common areas of collaboration were also identified in regards to One Health, specifically on issues around avian influenza, flyway monitoring and hippo conservation, with Ramsar operating a database on hippo population on Ramsar sites.
Looking ahead, the CIC will support the Ramsar Secretariat within the framework of the upcoming 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP15), which will take place in 2025 and will be hosted in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Adjacent to the above, the CIC offered its interest in providing input and expertise in the work to develop Ramsar’s Fifth Strategic Plan. A Working Group has already held three meetings on this matter, with the dates for the fourth meeting yet to be confirmed.
