Asian Wetland Managers Learn Wetland Management Know-How in Suncheon

April 17 to 23

Asia Wetland Managers Training Workshop Held

Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Noh Gwan-gyu) announced that the East Asian Ramsar Regional Center will hold an Asia Wetland Managers Training Workshop in Suncheon from April 17 to 23, with over 30 participants from 15 countries attending.

This training workshop is a program to cultivate experts in the preparation and updating of Ramsar Site Information Sheets. The Ramsar Site Information Sheet (RIS) contains ecological, geographical, hydrological, and social information about wetlands preparing for Ramsar registration, and it is a mandatory document to be submitted to the Ramsar Secretariat when registering a Ramsar wetland.

[Photo by Suncheon City]

The Ramsar Site Information Sheet is also open data accessible to anyone worldwide through the Ramsar Convention’s online Ramsar Site Information Sheet service webpage, providing information on each Ramsar wetland.

The purpose of this training is to enhance the capacity to manage high-quality Ramsar Site Information Sheets by educating participants on the overall procedures and content for preparing information sheets for new registrations and updating them after registration, as the number of Ramsar wetlands registered by each country increases.

Currently, 172 countries have joined the Ramsar Convention, with a total of 2,514 Ramsar wetlands registered.

Among these, there are 334 Ramsar wetlands in 18 countries within the jurisdiction of the East Asian Ramsar Regional Center.

From April 17 to 19, capacity-building training will be conducted for experts who can deliver lectures in English or their native languages on the preparation and updating of Ramsar Site Information Sheets in the Asian region and respective countries.

From April 20 to 23, officials responsible for the Ramsar Convention and the collection and management of Ramsar Site Information Sheets from central governments and corresponding academic institutions (universities, research institutes, etc.) of each country will attend. They will receive training on the preparation and updating of Ramsar Site Information Sheets and participate in discussions sharing challenges related to the implementation of the Ramsar Convention in their respective countries.

On the last day of the training, all participants will visit Suncheonman Wetland and Suncheonman National Garden to learn about the urban ecological corridor restoration process connecting the city center, the national garden, and Suncheonman, as well as conservation cases of habitats for endangered bird species such as the Black-faced Spoonbill.

The training materials will utilize the “Ramsar Wetland Registration and Renewal” publication by the East Asian Ramsar Regional Center, continuing a virtuous cycle of material development, instructor training, and education operation.

Meanwhile, the city supports the operation of the East Asian Ramsar Regional Center, an international organization for Asian wetland conservation, and plans to share the excellence and global wetland management cases of its Ramsar wetlands, Suncheonman (coastal wetland) and Dongcheon Estuary (inland wetland), through the center’s educational programs.