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Wetlands are vital to life - they provide water for our basic needs and our economic prosperity. In the developing world millions of people rely entirely on wetlands for their livelihoods and food security. Wetlands are also important for biodiversity and play a key role by affording habitat to many rare and endangered
species. However, the value of wetlands is often considered solely in terms of
their economic and social benefits, and the importance of conserving wetlands
and their biodiversity may not be recognised.
Wetlands are the most threatened of all the earth's ecosystems. Yet despite
their importance the world's wetlands are frequently mismanaged, and many
are now so degraded that the people who rely directly on them for their livelihoods have become more vulnerable to or have fallen deeper into poverty.
Wetlands International aims to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals through its Wetlands and Poverty Reduction Project
(WPRP). The project aims to act as a catalyst to promote the integration of
sustainable wetland management into poverty reduction strategies by
influencing local, national and international policies and practice.
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Budget
An example of wetland
management
The WPRP adopts a partnership
approach: new relationships will be
built between national, regional and
international environmental-management and poverty-reduction agencies
and organisations.
An international workshop will be
held in January 2006 at which stakeholders will decide focal areas for the
partnerships. Workshop participants
will identify ways in which cross-sectoral integration can be improved so
that, from the outset, project beneficiaries have a greater understanding of
the issues that they will confront.
Demonstration projects
Whilst effective policy provides the framework, implementation on the ground is
what matters. Furthermore, policy itself must be informed by the realities of practice.
Bio-rights
Capacity building
Wetland management has to integrate environmental perspectives with livelihood
benefits, especially the sustainable production of food. These approaches are
seldom integrated in decision-making processes that establish management
procedures. Socio-economic and biodiversity data are often not available to support decision making.
policy and decision makers, field workers and others involved in poverty
reduction and sustainable wetland
management, focussing on East and
West Africa. Stakeholders will learn to
help design modular training courses
to meet their own needs. Workshops
will be held, and representatives of
key partners who will benefit from the
training course will be invited to
attend.
Capacity building
in
East and West Africa
To foster understanding between partnerships and to ensure that demonstration projects become self-sustaining and replicable, it is important that local
technical capacity and skills in wetland management are improved. Increased
knowledge and knowledge management skills will help to improve stakeholders' ability to make informed choices and contribute to decision making.
Training courses
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Wetlands International
P.O. Box 471
6700 AL Wageningen
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 317 478854
Fax: +31 317 478850
E-mail: wetlands.livelihoods@wetlands.org
Website: www.wetlands.org
Photo credits
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