Side event details

During the last decade the Ramsar Convention has increasingly recognized the critical importance of traditional ecological knowledge; and highlighted the contributions of indigenous peoples and afrodescendant populations in wetland wise use, biodiversity conservation, and Climate Change mitigation and adaptation. Through the Ramsar Culture Working Group, resolutions VIII.19, IX.21 and XIII.15 among others, have given visibility to cultural values and traditional practices that have sustained livelihoods, wise use of wetlands and conservation of these ecosystems for centuries.

Yet, these efforts have also faced major challenges at the local, national and international level; among them, lack of resources for continued citizen science and long-term wetland monitoring; unclear property rights and conflicts across political boundaries; international human migration and trafficking; and historical patterns of exclusión and discrimination that affect indigenous peoples and afrodescendant populations. In spite of these difficulties, community-based organizations, nongovermental organizations, research institutions, national goverments and international cooperation have made significant advances in promoting the use of local knowledge for wetland conservaton, especially in less developed countries such as those in Central America and the Caribbean. In order to promote increased engagement of local organizations in wetland management, especially indigenous peoples and afrodescendants; this side event presents case studies of transboundary collaboration among local organizations working in the Wider Caribbean. These include community monitoring and sustainable use of wetlands in three border regions: Gulf of Honduras (Belize-Guatemala-Honduras); Sixaola River Basin (Panama-Costa Rica); and Southern Hispaniola (The Dominican Republic). In these three regions, indigenous and afrodescendant populations have interacted with wetlands for generations; and pioneering efforts have been launched to understand and learn from their use of wetlands for biodiversity conservation and Climate Change mitigation and adaptation.

Among the outcomes of this event we expect a fruitful dialogue among organizations working in community participation and monitoring in wetlands accross the Wider Caribbbean; increased awareness of the challenges and opportunities presented by community engagement in wetland management; and future plans to document and share lessons learned in the Caribbean basin and other tropical regions of the world such as Southern Asia. 

This side event will be moderated by Francoise Cabada from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) with presentations from Osvaldo Jordan, Ramsar Regional Center for the Western Hemisphere (CREHO) and Centro Internacional de Estudios Políticos y Sociales (CIEPS) in Panama; Julio Barquero, Corredor Biológico Talamanca-Caribe in Costa Rica; Yolanda León, Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and Grupo Jaragua in the Dominican Republic; and comments from Suh Seung Oh, Ramsar Regional Center for East Asia.