Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Bonaire Hosts the Caribbean Wetlands Initiative
Last week, the island hosted an august group of individuals representing 16 countries in the region for the Caribbean Wetlands Initiative, which originates from the treaty for the protection of wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention.
This important regional meeting was taking place on Bonaire thanks to the efforts of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I), the Ministry Caribbean Netherlands, and also in cooperation with the Public Body Bonaire. During the conference, discussions focused upon the protection of internationally important wetlands and the various activities in this field in the Caribbean region. The conference’s purpose was to come up with a strategy for a larger focus in the Caribbean area on such protections, in combination with a priority list and a budget for the next two years. Such efforts in the protection of wetlands is very important for Bonaire, as the island has five wetlands of international importance, also named Ramsar areas.
There are currently 1947 Ramsar areas worldwide. Since 1980, the Dutch Kingdom is a party of this treaty to which 160 countries are currently associated. Six Ramsar areas were designated in the former Netherlands Antilles, of which five are located on Bonaire (Lac, Pekelmeer with Flamingo Sanctuary, Goto, Slagbaai, and Klein Bonaire) and one is located on Aruba. For the size of Bonaire, it holds as many Ramsar sites as do larger islands in the region, such as Jamaica or the Dominican Republic. Only Cuba, with six sites, outranks Bonaire.
Bonaire has also played an important role with the legal interpretation of the obligations in the Ramsar Treaty. In connection with a planned development right next to the Lac, the Council of State in The Netherlands eventually determined that resolutions adopted by the parties of the Ramsar Convention are binding for the parties and the development was halted.
The Treaty for Wetlands of International Importance or Ramsar Convention was concluded by numerous countries throughout the world in 1971 in the Iranian city Ramsar. At that time, the treaty was particularly meant to protect birds in wetlands of international importance. The convention compels the governments to protect the areas and to give the importance to the nature in the areas by providing preference over designation for human interests, allowing only “wise use.” Other animals and plants were also added to the convention over time. The concept of what constituted a wetlands was also expanded to include shallow sea areas and coral reefs. The Ramsar convention requests the participating countries to identify their wetlands of international importance and register them as Ramsar sites. (Source: Island Government)
