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        Special Topics ¯S§O¥DÃD >> Wild Birds & Avian Flu ³¥³¾»P¸V¬y·P >>  Ramsar Resolution¡@°ê»ÚÀã¦a¤½¬ù¤j·|¨MÄ³
        
(Message started by: Bob Thompson on Nov 23^rd, 2005, 9:19am)

Title: Ramsar Resolution¡@°ê»ÚÀã¦a¤½¬ù¤j·|¨MÄ³
Post by Bob Thompson on Nov 23^rd, 2005, 9:19am

http://ramsar.org/res/key_res_ix_23_e.pdf

Title: Re: Ramsar Resolution¡@°ê»ÚÀã¦a¤½¬ù¤j·|¨MÄ³
Post by Carrie Ma on Nov 29^th, 2005, 8:12am

Another message extracted from Asia Pacific Migratory Waterbirds e-mail group on the Ramsar meeting (COP 9) (²Ä¤E©¡Àã¦a¤½¬ù½l¬ù¤è·|Ä³) in Uganda (ªÖ¶®¯Q¤z¹F).

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-apmw
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2005 11:35 PM
To: Asia Pacific Migratory Waterbirds; 'Orientalbirding'; ramsar-forum
Subject: [APMW] Avian Influenza update from Ramsar&CMS COPs in Africa

Dear colleagues,

Silence from me over the last 3 weeks was due to my extended travel for a set of international meetings in Africa where Avian Influenza got a high profile, given the concerns that the current highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 is feared by some to be a potential source for a human flu pandemic should it mutate to a form that can be spread easily from human to human and since it has already caused the deaths and culling of over 150 million poultry in Asia and Europe.

The meetings included the Conference of Parties (CoPs / ½l¬ù¤è·|Ä³) of the Wetlands and Migratory Species conventions and a round table discussion.

The 150 Contracting Parties of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Àã¦a¤½¬ù) and over 90 Contracting Parties of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS ¾E±pª«ºØ¤½¬ù), including most Asian countries, passed two important resolutions on migratory birds and their habitats, both calling for protection of migratory species and habitat conservation, highlighted the many vectors that are known to spread the disease (poor poultry management, trade, equipment movement and human activities, migratory birds, etc) while highlighting the lack of conclusive evidence to clearly link the spread with movement of birds which have been widely blamed as being the main cause, need for improved and precise information on bird migration patterns, areas of concentration and for global surveillance for the virus in wild birds to support sound decision making and management actions. Attached below are the links and highlights.

Armed with these resolutions, government agencies of the Contracting Parties, non-contracting parties, international bodies, international organizations, national and local organizations and other responsible people, need to be firmly committed to implement a number of actions at local, national, flyway and global level will help to ensure that migratory species and their habitats are conserved through these trying times.   Communicating these resolutions widely and clearly to these audiences is an important step.

Many actions offer a unique opportunity and will need the close cooperation and collaboration of agencies for animal husbandry and veterinary services, human public health, environment and forests, poultry industry, wildlife managers, wetland managers, including from the irrigation and water supply divisions, urban and rural civic authorities, bird traders, researchers and others.

With best wishes, Taej

Dr. Taej Mundkur
Wetlands International - South Asia

---------------------------------

1. Ramsar COP9 in Kampala, Uganda, 8-15 November, Resolution IX:23.

The text below is as reported on the Ramsar Forum:

The delegates at COP9 developed and adopted a Resolution on "Highly pathogenic avian influenza and its consequences for wetland and waterbird conservation and wise use", and because of its timeliness the final text is already available for interested readers on the Ramsar Web site.

HTML - http://ramsar.org/res/key_res_ix_23_e.htm

PDF - http://ramsar.org/res/key_res_ix_23_e.pdf

The final texts of the rest of the 25 Resolutions adopted by the COP will be appearing on the Ramsar Web site later in a more orderly and leisurely fashion (after some holidays).

2. Round Table on AI, 19 November, in conjunction with the UNEP/CMS COP8 in Nairobi, Kenya (ªÖ¶®©`Ã¹¤ñ)

A round table discussion on animal diseases was organized in Nairobi, in conjunction with the CMS COP. The meeting covered a number of presentations on the current state of the AI, knowledge and gaps, and opportunities for modeling the spread to assist risk assessments;
http://www.iisd.ca/cms/cop8/nov19.html

(continue next message)

Title: Re: Ramsar Resolution¡@°ê»ÚÀã¦a¤½¬ù¤j·|¨MÄ³
Post by Carrie Ma on Nov 29^th, 2005, 8:13am

3. UNEP (Áp¦X°êÀô¹Ò³W¹º¸p)/CMS COP8 in Nairobi , Resolution 8.27

The resolution will be available shortly on the CMS website, but in the meantime, the following text is taken from a report published by Earth Negotiations Bulletin on the web http://www.iisd.ca/vol18/enb1827e.html and provides a flavour of the process of finalization of such documents through debate in the plenary and working groups. It also provides the highlights of the resolution.

On Wednesday, Switzerland tabled a draft resolution in the Conference of the Whole (COW), endorsed by the Scientific Council and co-sponsored by France, on migratory species and highly pathogenic avian influenza (UNEP/CMS/Res.8.27) as an emerging issue. COW Chair Payet convened a working group, co-chaired by Reinhard Schnidrig (Switzerland) and Ward Hagemeijer (Wetlands International) that met on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, a revised draft resolution was endorsed by the COW and adopted by the plenary.

During discussion on avian influenza, working group participants decided to ask the Scientific Council to examine the role of migratory species in transmitting diseases in general, and to seek cooperation with the CBD (¥Íª«¦h¼Ë©Ê¤½¬ù) to consider using the Clearing-House Mechanism to facilitate risk assessment and reduction. Delegates also agreed to remove from the revised draft resolution reference to specific examples of large-scale monitoring and surveillance programmes, and add reference in the resolution to an annex listing key research needs, including mapping migratory routes and clarifying the virus' behavior and survival. Switzerland and Australia suggested, and delegates agreed, to delete reference in the preamble to human infection of avian influenza caused "possibly by consumption of" infected poultry.

Final Resolution: In the final resolution (UNEP/CMS/Res.8.27/Rev.1), the preamble stresses that ill-informed responses may have unfortunate and possibly disastrous long-term consequences for conservation, especially for globally threatened species. The COP, inter alia:

calls for fully integrated approaches, at national and international levels, to address avian influenza and other animal-borne diseases by bringing ornithological, wildlife, and wetland management expertise together with medical and health expertise;
calls upon parties, non-parties, and national and international organizations, in cooperation with other competent authorities, to support and build capacity for research related to disease processes in migratory birds;
emphasizes that destruction or substantial modification of wetlands and other habitats with the objective of reducing contact between domesticated and wild birds does not amount to wise use, and may exacerbate the problem by causing further dispersion of infected birds;
calls on parties and urges non-parties to strictly apply internationally agreed quarantine and health standards for the cross-border transport of bird products and captive birds of all kinds;
suggests that African parties and non-parties coordinate their responses, particularly through the New Partnership for Africa's Development;
urges parties to support the establishment of an internationally or regionally coordinated well-structured long-term monitoring and surveillance programme for migratory birds; and to fill specific gaps in knowledge through provision of support to establish programmes to study migratory patterns of target species at flyway level; and
requests the Executive Secretary to ensure CMS continued leadership in the Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza.