1 May 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) has reported that the Government of Kiribati has acceded to the Convention, becoming its 166th contracting party. The coastal wetland No'oto-North Tarawa was designated as its first Ramsar site.
30 April 2013: Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the World Bank has approved a US$4.2 million grant to support the Government of Burundi's efforts in promoting sustainable land and water management in coffee farms, within the pilot Sustainable Coffee Landscape Project.
26 April 2013: The first draft of the Strategic Plan for Migratory Species 2015-2023, prepared by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) Intersessional Strategic Plan Working Group, has been released for comments, which are requested by 30 September 2013.
29 April 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) has reported that the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has designated Al Wathba Wetland Reserve as its fourth Wetland of International Importance. It is also the first Ramsar Site designated in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
29 April 2013: Azzam Alwash has been awarded the 2013 Goldman Environmental Prize for his efforts to restore the Mesopotamian Marshlands in Southern Iraq, which were extensively drained and damaged by dam construction upstream, resulting in ecological damage and displacement of the Marsh Arab communities.
22 April 2013: The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is providing a US$72 million loan to the Brazilian state of Acre to promote sustainable forestry and agroforestry to keep deforestation in check while contributing to economic growth and poverty reduction.
20 April 2013: The tenth session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF10), which met from 8-19 April 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey, focused on the theme "Forests and Economic Development."
18 April 2013: Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) members participated in two informal forest dialogues with China, both of which were held in Douala, Cameroon. Since 2007-2008, CBFP members have engaged in informal dialogues with Chinese actors on sustainable forest management (SFM) and issues such as certification, timber traceability and the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan of the European Union. The two recent dialogues aimed to improve forest governance, reduce poverty and more sustainably manage forest resources.
16 April 2013: The European Union (EU) Parliament voted to adopt a ban on discarding unwanted fish caught in the Skagerrak, a strait connecting the Baltic and the North Seas. The ban, which will be implemented between 2014 and 2016, requires all fishing vessels to land all caught fish, regardless of fish size or species.
15 April 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) has reported that the Government of Belarus has designated four Important Bird Areas as new Wetlands of International Importance, totaling an area of over 100,000 hectares.
| Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) |
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| Conference Reporting Services (CRS) |
