The coordination committee of the High Andean Wetlands (HAW) Regional Initiative and Strategy, linked to the Ramsar Convention, agreed to develop a regional monitoring network, discussed Initiative implementation and governance, and reviewed an ecosystem services evaluation project proposal submitted to the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
12 December 2012: The IX Meeting of High Andean Wetlands (HAW) Regional Initiative and Strategy agreed to develop a regional monitoring network, and discussed the implementation, governance, financial challenges and future of the Initiative.
The Meeting, organized by Chile’s Ministries of the Environment and Foreign Affairs, was held from 19-24 November 2012 in Santiago and San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It brought together representatives of the eight National Focal Points of the Initiative’s Contracting Parties, namely: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Also attending where representatives of the Ramsar Regional Centre for the Western Hemisphere (CREHO), WWF, Birdlife International and the Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN), which belong to the Initiative’s Contact Group.
The Meeting discussed guidelines drafted by Chile’s Environment Ministry on the conservation and monitoring of High Andean Wetlands, and agreed to develop a regional monitoring network for the Wetlands within the Initiative framework. They also: heard progress reports on implementing the Regional Strategy; discussed rules for the Initiative’s Coordination Committee and the financial challenges facing the Initiative; and reviewed the status of a proposal submitted for Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding regarding evaluation of ecosystem services of the High Andean Wetlands. The Meeting elected Chile as coordinator for 2013 and toured Ramsar sites in Chile’s Antofagasta region.
The ten-year High Andean Wetlands Strategy was approved during Ramsar’s ninth meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP 9) in November 2005. The Strategy calls for developing a shared vision about HAW, improving scientific and technical knowledge about HAW, promoting conservation, management and sustainable use of HAW resources, helping articulate wetland conservations among its member countries, and designing and implementing a HAW monitoring and evaluation system. [Ramsar Convention Press Release]