Participants at the seventh European Ramsar Meeting took stock of progress made toward implementation of the Ramsar Convention, exchanged experiences, and heard presentations on environmental challenges in the water sector and best practices in the long-term use of ecosystem services provided by wetlands.
12 October 2011: The Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) has reported on the results of the seventh European Ramsar Meeting, which addressed major themes that will influence the management and use of water-related ecosystems in the coming years. The event aimed to identify areas of successful cooperation between different sectors of society, administration and private business. It took place from 27-30 September 2011, in Trnava, Slovak Republic, and brought together National Ramsar Convention focal points from ministries, experts for scientific and technical matters (STRP), those in charge of national programmes for communication, education, participation and awareness (CEPA), NGO representatives and sustainable development experts.
Participants took stock of progress made toward implementation of the Ramsar Convention, exchanged experiences, and heard presentations on environmental challenges in the water sector and best practices in the long-term use of ecosystem services provided by wetlands.
The first day focused on the relevance of wetlands, the second provided a forum for participants to share experiences and lessons learnt, and the third day consisted of a field visit to the first Trilateral Ramsar Site, shared by the Slovak, Czech and Austrian Republics, in the floodplain of the Morava-Dyje-Danube confluence. The last day addressed indicators of capacity to cope with increasing environmental challenges. [Meeting Presentations]