Side event details
The proposed side event wishes to highlight that International Seagrass Day has been declared by the UN, mangrove restoration lessons are empowering countries to embrace scientific restoration, merits of conservation of these two ecosystems for all stakeholders. At the same time the event will highlight the challenges, opportunities to link grass root communities to mangrove restoration, knowledge gaps and some stories of collaborative actions from across the globe to emphasise that transboundary initiatives are key to successful, conservation, livelihoods and restoration. This event is hosted to bring all interested parties to plan the way forward for seagrass ecosystem's wise use.
The side event will be moderated by the Department of Wildlife conservation of Sri Lanka and potential speakers from Wayamba University Sri Lanka, CSIRO, Australia, Commonwealth, UK, NGO's such as Blue Resources Trust, Wildlife and Nature Protection Society, Alan Coral Trust have been identified as potential speakers who will join both in person and remotely.
We expect sharing the policies, action plans and guidelines prepared by Sri Lanka and wish to explore more ways to share information rapidly between all parties. CoP this year focus on benefits and access to wetland services and this side event will provide live examples how that can be done in mangrove and seagrass ecosystems.
November 09
Room No 03
13.15 to 14.15
This sessions will be conducted with short presentations and discussions and realtime interactive tools will be used)
1. Welcome remarks ( Dr. Chaturangi Wickramaratne, IWMI)
2. International Seagrass Day: How can Ramsar Nations benefit? ( Mr. Manjula Amarathna, National Focal Point of Ramsar Convention, Department of Wildlife Conservation, Sri Lanka)
3. Restoration of mangroves: lessons worth sharing ( Prof. Sevvandi Jayakody, Chairperson to National Mangrove Expert Committee, Sri Lanka)
4. Science of seagrass: are we ready to restore? ( Dr. Mat Vanderklift, Senior Research Scientist, SCIRO, Australia)
5. How to integrate communities meaningfully in wetland restoration (Dr. Priyani Amarasinghe, IWMI)
6. Global partnerships and opportunities for mangrove restoration (Dr. Jeff Ardron, The Commonwealth Secretariat)
7. Real time interactive session
8. Discussion