28 October 2008: In a video message to the tenth meeting of
the Conference of the Contracting Parties of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands,
taking place in Changwon, Republic of Korea, from 28 October-4 November 2008,
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the appropriateness of the
conference’s theme, “Healthy wetlands, healthy people.”

He underlined the role
of wetlands as carbon reservoirs and in building resilience in the face of climate
change. Ban concluded by underscoring the importance of the Ramsar Convention
in halting and reversing the rapid damage caused to inland and coastal
wetlands. [UN Press
Release]