7 January 2012: The Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Conference) and the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) designed to strengthen their collaboration with the aim of supporting scientific and technical implementation of the Convention.

The MoC provides that the Ramsar Secretariat will develop linkages with SER’s global network of ecosystem and wetland restoration practitioners. It identifies the following areas of future collaboration: further contributions to the work of Ramsar’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) on issues such as ecological character and climate change; development of proposals for a joint work programme on ecosystem restoration guidance for the Chairs of the Scientific Advisory Bodies (CSAB) of the biodiversity-related conventions; and developing a joint wetland restoration case study database that builds on SER’s existing Global Restoration Network database.

SER is a US-based NGO that promotes ecological restoration as a means of sustaining the diversity of life on Earth and re-establishing an ecologically healthy relationship between nature and culture. [The Ramsar-SER MoC] [SER Website] [Ramsar Press Release]