26 February

• Ramsar Secretary General visits Panama
  Mr. Anada Tiega, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention, arrived in Panama on February 9th 2010 for a three day visit. Dr.Tiega was accompanied by María Rivera, Senior Advisor for the Americas. The National Environmental Authority (ANAM) hosted Mr. Tiega during his first visit to this Central American country and briefed him on Panama’s wetlands achievements. This included the recently completed and published Inventory of Continental and Coastal Wetlands and the national policy on wetlands, currently under development. Mr. Tiega visited the headquarters of The Ramsar Regional Center for Training and Research on Wetlands in the Western Hemisphere (CREHO), one of the first regional initiatives of the Convention in the Americas. Mr. Tiega also participated in CREHO’s first Board of Directors meeting of 2010. During a visit to the Panama Canal Mr. Tiega lunched with the Minister for Environmental Affairs, Javier Arias, along with Esteban Saenz, Panama Canal’s Executive Vice President of the Department of Environment, Water and Energy, as well as several members of the Panama's National Wetlands Committee.
  More information: http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-news-archives-2010-secretary-general-in-panama/main/ramsar/1-26-45-437%5E24431_4000_0__

• Ramsar Advisory Mission report: Marromeu Complex (Mozambique)
  The Ramsar Convention Secretariat was informed in 2008 of potential threats to Mozambique’s only Ramsar Site, the Marromeu Complex in the Zambezi Delta, from oil and gas prospecting activities. In 2009 the government of Mozambique invited the Secretariat to activate the Ramsar Advisory Mission procedure in response. A team of Dave Pritchard, Abou Bamba, and Francisco Rilla visited the site and undertook consultations there and at national, provincial and district level from 16-20 August 2009. This report summarises the Mission’s findings and presents 24 recommendations for short- and long-term action.
  More information: http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-documents-rams-ram62/main/ramsar/1-31-112%5E24429_4000_0__

• Ramsar signs MOU with the World Bank
  Secretary General Anada Tiéga and Mr Hartwig Schafer, Acting Vice President, Sustainable Development Network, at the World Bank have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, on 16 February, the purpose of which is to "establish a framework of cooperation between Ramsar and the World Bank in exchange of technical expertise and capacity building related to the development and implementation of climate change projects in wetlands in the context of the World Bank-financed climate change portfolio". Amongst Ramsar's roles will be to provide technical support for the assessment, formulation, and development of climate change projects in wetlands in the geographical areas of wetland projects in the World Bank portfolio; to assist in the development of tools and methodologies to assess the magnitude of carbon sinks in mangroves; to support the development of the wetlands typology and protocol for assessing net carbon storage or CO2 emissions under different conditions; and to prepare jointly publications on the findings of the cooperation.
  More information: http://www.ramsar.org/pdf/moc/world_bank_mou_2010.pdf

• Audubon Sanctuary celebrates Ramsar designation. Florida (USA)
  Audubon of Florida’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, home of the largest stand of old-growth Bald Cypress trees in North America, hosted a celebration of its listing as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention on Thursday, 18 February. Ramsar's Secretary General Anada Tiéga and Maria Rivera were there to present the Ramsar site certificate to the assembled notables and applaud their efforts.
  More information: http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-media-photos-usa-corkscrew-photos/main/ramsar/1-25-126%5E24428_4000_0__

• Transboundary Ramsar Site managers meet in Strasbourg
  To profit from accumulated experience in international cooperation in Ramsar site management, the Alsace Regional Council and the regional office of the French Ministry of Ecology invited Ramsar site authorities to share their views -- this led forty managers of transboundary Ramsar sites in Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Germany, Latvia, Luxemburg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine to meet on 29 January 2010 in Strasburg, just prior to the World Wetlands Day celebrations in their home countries. Edith Wenger's official summary of the meeting is here.
  More information: http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-news-archives-2010-trs-managers-strasbourg/main/ramsar/1-26-45-437%5E24402_4000_0__