Side event details

South Asia, wherein nearly one-fourth of the global population resides, within just 3% of the world’s land area and 5% of the world's available renewable freshwater resources, critically depends on wetlands for sustaining economies and preserving nature. Yet, the wetlands have continued to degrade and decline owing to the complex development dynamics in the region, coupled with limited awareness of the role healthy wetlands play in sustainable development.

Regional homogeneities in the wetland regimes, their influencing drivers and pressures, policy environment, and capacities indicate possibilities of benefitting from regional collaboration and exchange while seeking wetlands wise use outcomes. The South Asian countries (barring Afghanistan and Maldives) are signatories to the Ramsar Convention and use its implementation as a basis for furthering wetlands conservation actions. However, continued degradation and loss of wetlands in the region indicate practical challenges in applying available guidance and the need to tailor implementation approaches considering specific regional contexts.

The Ramsar Contracting Parties have recognised the need for establishing a regional mechanism to share experiences and best practices in wetlands management so as to further implementation of the Convention and also strengthen national wetlands conservation programmes. Wetlands International South Asia has been working with the Ramsar National Focal Points, international organisations and other regional stakeholders to shape a dedicated Ramsar Regional Initiative for South Asia. The dialogue has progressed from the expression of the need to establish a regional cooperation mechanism at a side event held at CoP 13; discussing the possible roles of the platform at a regional meeting held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2019; and endorsement of the need to establish a regional platform in the form of a Ramsar Regional Initiative at CoP 14 in November 2022. The programmatic structure, framework and governance of the Regional Initiative were detailed in a roundtable meeting hosted on December 13-15, 2023, at Pokhara, Nepal, jointly by WISA and ICIMOD.

Continuing with the dialogue, this side event aims to take further steps towards establishing the Ramsar South Asia Regional Initiative by affirming the regional initiative’s programmatic framework, governance and implementation modalities. The overall programmatic framework for establishing the Regional Initiative shall be presented and inputs of the national focal points and stakeholders taken on governance and overall implementation. Discussions at the side event are aligned with the overall CoP theme as they enable collective and collaborative action for wetlands conservation. The discussions are also aligned with the Draft Resolutions on Ramsar Regional Initiatives (Doc 23.5), CEPA (Doc 23.6), Culture and Wetlands (Doc 23.14), and Urban and Peri-Urban Wetlands (Doc 23.6).

Provisional Agenda

Introduction to the South Asia regional platform
Dr Sidharth Kaul, President, Wetlands International South Asia

Panel discussion on the establishment of the Ramsar Regional Initiative
National Focal Points from the South Asia Region
Representatives of the international organization partners and international organizations

Conclusions and Way Forward
Mr Sueng Oh Suh, Executive Director, RRCEA
Dr Ritesh Kumar, Director, WISA