The 2nd edition of the Ramsar Handbooks including Guidelines adopted by the 7th and 8th Conferences of the Parties is now available.
This series of Handbooks has been prepared by the Secretariat following the 7th and 8th Meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP7 and COP8) held in San José, Costa Rica, in May 1999 and Valencia, Spain, in November 2002. The guidelines adopted at those COPs have been prepared as a series of handbooks to assist those with an interest in, or directly involved with, implementation of the Convention at the international, regional, national, subnational and local levels.
The handbooks have been prepared in the three working languages of the Convention (English, French and Spanish) and incorporate, in addition to the guidelines adopted by the Parties, relevant material from other sources and from case studies designed to illustrate key aspects of the guidelines. Material that has been officially adopted by the COP is clearly distinguishable from that which has been added for context. The full text of most case studies can be found on the Web site of the Convention at http://ramsar.org/wurc_index.htm.
The Ramsar Convention promotes an integrated package of actions to ensure the conservation and wise use of wetlands. In recognition of these integrated approaches, the reader will find that within each handbook there are numerous signposts or cross-references to others in the series.
The handbooks can be downloaded from http://www.ramsar.org/lib_handbooks_e.htm
Source: www.ramsar.org
The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) published this 120-page report with financial assistance by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS). The report is broken into the following sections: the condition of and threats to inland water ecosystems; a review of inland water species richness, distribution and conservation status; inland water ecosystems and habitats identified as high conservation priority; and data gaps and information needs.
Included as well is a review of 18 other ongoing assessments of water resources and inland water biodiversity, including those by IUCN, BirdLife, WWF, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, CGIAR, LakeNet and others. This project was administered by Wetlands International and the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, and peer reviewed by experts from the CBD and Ramsar secretariats, Wetlands International, and others. To find the publication on the web in PDF format go to: www..biodiv.org/doc/publications/cbd-ts-11.pdf.
To order a hard copy go to the CBD website: www.biodiv.org/
The International Wader Study Group published its major review of the status of 131 populations of 55 species of migratory waders (shorebirds) in Africa and Western Eurasia in its occasional series International Wader Studies. For the East Atlantic Flyway, the review updates the assessment made by Cor Smit & Theunis Piersma in the 1980s and which was published in 1989. For other flyway systems in Africa and Western Eurasia, the review provides the first systematic population reviews. The publication contains accounts for each of the species and their populations, summarising current knowledge of population status and trends. Extensive analyses consider thematic, taxonomic and geographic status and issues. The 259 page review and supporting data can be found on WSG’s web-site www.waderstudygroup.org
Peatlands in Ireland have accumulated large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere since the last ice age. In their natural state, peatlands act as sinks of carbon dioxide, but sources of methane. In Ireland, four million tonnes of peat is extracted annually to produce 6% of the total primary energy requirement. The combustion of peat generates greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide. These emissions accounted for 5.7% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland in 2001. In addition to the emissions from peat combustion, other stages of peat use contribute to the total greenhouse gas balance of peat use for energy. Peat production fields emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, but methane losses are much less significant compared to undrained peatland. Construction of lifecycle analysis of peat use for energy in Ireland would provide information of the contribution of peat use for energy to the national greenhouse gas balance as well as the possibility to compare the greenhouse gas balance of the peat lifecycle to that of other energy sources. Such an analysis requires more information than is presently available on greenhouse gas fluxes of undisturbed raised bogs, peat production fields and industrial cutaway peatlands under different after-use management regimes.
Peat is the least carbon efficient fossil fuel producing more CO2 emissions per energy unit than oil, natural gas or coal. The net emissions from a peat burning power plant could be reduced significantly by replacing part of the peat with biomass fuels.
Potential sources of biomass are forest residues, purpose grown energy crops, sawmill residues and recovered wood. The price of generating electricity by biomass is currently not competitive compared to the price of fossil fuels in Ireland. However, the energy markets may be subject to change in the future as a result of the effects of carbon taxation and the emission trading scheme increasing the attractiveness of biomass as an energy source.
Replacing part of the peat with recovered wood in the Edenderry power plant, which is the first of the new peat burning fluidised bed plants in Ireland, could potentially reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the combustion process by 8-36%.
However, due to information gaps, the greenhouse gas balances of the whole lifecycles of co-firing recovered wood with peat and sole combustion of peat can only be compared qualitatively.
Available under:
www.irish-energy.ie/uploads/documents/upload/ publications/IEA_Bioenergy_Agreement_Task_38_Case_Study.pdf
This report covers the conservation of mires and peatlands from a global and a Belarus perspective. Each of the two parts of this publication first considers world trends and best practices in the use of forests and peatlands. On that background, the publication then looks into how forests and peatlands are managed in Belarus.
Overview of the state and changes in the condition of the world forests and peatlands are presented in detail. For the description of forests, a recent FAO study is used, while the peatlands section builds heavily on the IMCG/IPS Wise Use of Mires and Peatlands book. Drawing from the work of the IMCG and IPS, the new UNDP-GEF publication brings examples of the leading methods of peat use in economy, its conservation and peatland restoration. It discusses aspects of peatland interdependence with climate and biological diversity, as well as the place of peatlands in international environmental agreements.
Belarus has a lot to learn from the world experience on peatland use and conservation. In fact, Belarus has more area covered by peatlands (over 14 percent of the country) than most other countries in the region, and thus peat is an invaluable resource both for the economy, as well as for the environment. Unwise peatland use in the past has brought about wide-spread degradation, and restoration of peatlands as a way to stabilize micro-climate and preserve biodiversity are high on the agenda of the Government, as well as the international community active in Belarus. A 3 million dollar project on peatland restoration has been prepared recently by UNDP, Government and local NGO BirdLife Belarus, and will be considered by the GEF by the end of 2004.
Maxim Vergeichik, Program Associate on Environment, UNDP Belarus
The Peatland Ecology Research Group of the University of Laval has made many of their publications available as PDF downloads:
http://www.gret-perg.ulaval.ca/en_publications.html
This issue of the “Archives of Nature Conservation and Landscape Research” presents the outcome of a project in which the use was studied of Phragmites reed from fen areas rewetted with communal waste water. The articles cover the following topics:
- Growth, productivity, Nitrogen balance, and genetic diversity of the reed vegetation
- Water budget and geohydrologic situation of the fen area
- Impact on ground and surface water quality
- Effect of the rewetting on the nutrient dynamics
- Economic aspects
(in German)
For more information: http://www.archivnatur.de/
Or René Fronczek: fronczek@uni-greifswald.de
WetKit
WetKit is a Web-based tool kit designed to streamline access to practical tools that can help Canadians better understand and manage wetlands. WetKit showcases a wealth of wetland tools and explains how each one can help conserve wetlands and benefit. WetKit also helps users to find the tool they need, and to access that tool quickly and easily.
Surf to: http://www.wetkit.net