8 January 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have jointly published a report, titled “Determination and Implementation of Environmental Water Requirements for Estuaries.” The report stresses the importance of maintaining the ecological character of estuaries for both integrated river basin management and integrated coastal zone management.

The report, which is published as Ramsar Technical Report number 9 and as CBD Technical Report no. 69, underscores that estuaries serve as the bridges between freshwater systems and coastal marine wetland ecosystems.

The 36-page paper, authored by Janine Adams of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa, provides a review of available methods for determining the environmental water requirements of estuaries, as well as a discussion of trends in method development and requirements for the successful implementation of environmental water requirements. It focuses on the experiences of three countries that have made substantial progress in developing methods for assessment of environmental water requirements for estuaries, namely Australia, South Africa and the US. The report also features eight pages of references and three tables of site examples. [Publication: Determination and Implementation of Environmental Water Requirements for Estuaries] [Ramsar Press Release]