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By Edward Akaki
The 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP14) will take place from 5th to 13th November 2022, in a hybrid manner in Wuhan (China) at East Lake International Conference Center (ELICC) and Geneva (Switzerland) at the International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG).
The opening and high-level segment will be in hybrid modality in Wuhan, China. Negotiations and all other aspects of COP14 will take place face to face in Geneva.
In a recorded video shared on twitter by ‘Wetlands International South Asia’, Musonda Mumba the new Secretary General of the convention on wetlands made her remarks about the upcoming COP14.
What Musonda Mumba the Secretary General said.
“It’s a great time to be joining the convention. Now the convention will be having its 14th conference of the parties in Wuhan, China and in Geneva, Switzerland, from the 5th to the 13th of November this year it’s going to be bringing together governments, civil society groups, private sector entities and many other stakeholders, including youth voices over at the table to really discuss why wetlands matter why they should be managed well and as a theme of this COP is ‘Wetlands Action for people in nature’ and really at this moment we’re bringing together the agenda that is referencing climate, biodiversity and SDG action together, and why do wetlands matter?!, wetlands matter because they don’t only provide the services that keep us alive water, food and many other services all worth $47 trillion and we’ve seen how the inaction or activities such as climate change have implications for tipping points. For example, we saw how in the loire river here in Europe, in France, we saw rivers dry.
So we need a lot of action towards mobilizing communities. And so the scope is really wanting to bring action together and really calling for more amplification and raising the profile of wetlands in our communities in our society, the science, the provisions and all of this work in light of what we do, a wetland action is not just an action for wetlands, but action for people and nature alike.”
About the convention on wetlands
The Ramsar Convention is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
The Convention was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975. Since then, almost 90% of UN member states have become “Contracting Parties” and committed to three pillars of the convention.
1. Work towards the wise use of all their wetlands.
2. Designate suitable wetlands for the list of Wetlands International Importance and ensure their effective management.
3. Cooperate internationally on trans-boundary wetlands, shared wetland systems and shared species.
