International Wetland Awards scheme launched to mark World Wetlands Day

The message below comes to us Wetland Link International.
World Wetlands Day, 2nd February, sees the launch of the International Wetland Awards scheme, run by the WWN with funding from the Spanish Biodiversity Foundation.  The project aims to highlight best practice in wetland management and restoration, but will also award 'gongs' to internationally important wetlands that are being badly managed, neglected or threatened

The three categories of award are as follows:

• Blue Globe - for innovation and best practice in wetland management
• Green Globe - for outstanding wetland restoration projects
• Grey Globe - for wetlands in danger

The first round of awards will be given at the same time as the COP10 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, in October 2010 and later in a second round at COP11 of the Ramsar Convention in 2012.
WLI will be launching a new website soon, which will allow NGOs to nominate wetlands and cast their votes on the full list of internationally important wetlands, as identified by the Ramsar convention.
Wetland NGOs will be able to vote online for their local wetlands of international importance (either designated or not) and the awards will be allocated by the WWN committee based on votes cast. 
The interactive website is expected to be up and running by March 2010, and WLI looks forward to active involvement from wetland NGOs wherever you are.
For full details go to http://www.worldwetnet.org/
The awards scheme is generously supported by the Fundación Biodiversidad of Spain

Background

World Wetland Network

The World Wetland Network (WWN) is a fledgling global network of 200 wetland NGO’s initiated at the World NGO conference on the eve of the Ramsar COP10 meeting, November 2008, in Changwon, South Korea. It arose from the need for NGOs to maintain contact with each other at and between Ramsar meetings, but will also help with information exchange, sharing of best practice and lobbying on specific wetland issues.  Previous Ramsar COPs also saw wetland NGOs working on this, and WWN is a direct result of their efforts. The WWN will also enable smaller NGOs to arrive at Ramsar COPs (Conferences of the Parties) well prepared for the meeting and more able to fully participate in the Ramsar meeting itself.
The NGO’s present at the Ramsar COP met several times and agreed a Terms of Reference and a work plan for the WWN. A committee of members from each continent was identified in the Terms of Reference. Chris Rostron, Head of WLI (Wetland Link International), was elected as chair along with representatives from each continental region. Since then, a yahoo chat group has been set with regular e-mail traffic, which is open to anyone to join. The committee meets over telephone conference regularly, see the minutes of the meetings below.
This website is hosted by WWT, a UK-based wetland conservation organisation that shares many similar aims of WWN and also hosts Wetland Link International.