22 January 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) announced that Ramsar’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) Oversight Committee has made the appointments of the Chairs, members and invited experts of the STRP for 2013-2015.

At its first meeting, which will take place in Gland, Switzerland, from 25 February – 1 March 2013, the Panel will develop its proposed work plan, as mandated by parties at the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 11), which took place in July 2012, in Bucharest, Romania, and by Resolution XI.17 (on future implementation of scientific and technical aspects of the Convention for 2013-2015).

The Panel’s Chair and Vice-Chair are, respectively, Royal Gardner and Christine Prietto. The Panel members are: Gueladio Cissé; Reda Fishar; Stanley Liphadzi; Hiromi Yamashita; Lijuan Cui; Ritesh Kumar; Lars Dinesen; Matt Walpole; Matthew McCartney; Randy Milton; Pierre Horwitz; Christine Prietto; and Randy Thaman. Invited experts are: David Stroud; Dave Pritchard; Max Finlayson; Mike Acreman: and a neotropical expert (to be advised). The Panel’s international organization partner members are: Stephan Flink, Wetlands International; Sonali Senaratna, IWMI; Patrick MacQuarrie, IUCN; Eugenio Barrios, WWF; and BirdLife – (to be advised). [STRP Webpage]