Asian Regional Workshop on the Management of Wetlands and Flyway Sites held in September 2013

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Asian Regional Workshop on the Management of Wetlands and Flyway Sites © EAAFP

EAAFP, together with the Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands (SCPW), the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Government of the Philippines,, the Ramsar Convention Bureau and the Ramsar Regional Center – East Asia (RRC-EA) conducted an “Asian Regional Workshop on the Management of Wetlands and Flyway Sites” on 24-27 September 2013 at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center in Makati City.

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Asian Regional Workshop on the Management of Wetlands and Flyway Sites © EAAFP

The Workshop aimed to enhance the management capacities of wetland site managers through sharing and documentation of lessons learned and best practices in the conservation of wetlands of international importance, and of migratory waterbirds and their habitats. The 4-day event included presentations, visiting field sites and workshops designed to explore and share learning experiences and provide models from the Region to help wetland managers become more effective in their daily work.

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Asian Regional Workshop on the Management of Wetlands and Flyway Sites © EAAFP

Participants came from 15 countries (13 in the EAAFP region), representing a variety of sites, including several EAAFP Flyway Network Sites (FNS). The EAAFP Chief Executive and Science Officer  gave presentations and led individual sessions, as well as holding many side-meetings related to identification, nomination and conservation of FNS, particularly in the Philippines. The Science Officer held a session with existing site managers to encourage them to fill out missing or outdated Site Information Sheet forms and the Chief Executive held a parallel session with future site managers to discuss criteria and nomination processes.

A full account of the program, including links to presentations can be found at here

The outcomes of the meeting included:

  1. Demonstrating to partners and site managers that FSN designation has concrete benefits in terms of capacity building and information sharing
  2. Encouraging nomination of future FSN sites, particularly for Philippines
  3. Increased recognition of FSN sites and the Flyway Site Network
  4. Encouraging sites to submit updated information, geographical boundaries
  5. Strengthening collaboration between EAAFP, Ramsar Secretariat and RRC-EA
  6. Increase awareness among site managers about the importance and proper techniques of waterbird bird monitoring at sites
  7. Follow up with Philippines on site nominations and with Dec 2014 Research Forum

EAAFP hopes to hold future joint training workshops in collaboration with Ramsar in 2014.

See also, from Government of Philippines website

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