The Ramsar Convention
Standing Committee has decided to present Joint Nature Conservation
Committee Member David Pritchard with its 2008 Ramsar Conservation
Award in the category ‘Science’.
Mr Pritchard is being given
the Award for his work in supporting the development and
implementation of the Ramsar Convention over the last two decades.
They wanted to honour his dedication, consistency, and
effectiveness as not only a representative of BirdLife
International at Ramsar meetings, but also contributing very
extensively in his own right.
He has provided advice and
support to many Convention meetings (Conferences of the Parties,
Standing Committee, and Scientific and Technical Review Panel -
STRP) since 1990. He has also made major contributions to the work
of the STRP, notably on maintenance of ecological character, Ramsar
site selection criteria, impact assessment, and wetland cultural
values. He has led the development of ecological indicators of the
effectiveness of the Convention - an approach now also used by
other Multilateral Environmental Agreements.
Mr Pritchard has
participated in several advisory missions on behalf of the
Convention, and has worked with several small island states in the
Caribbean, supporting development of the Ramsar Convention’s
implementation. He has also actively promoted implementation in the
UK, notably through participation in the National Ramsar
Committee.
JNCC’s Chair, Peter
Bridgewater, commented: “David joined JNCC in 2006, and has already
made a significant contribution to our deliberations and policy
recommendations. This award is well deserved, and I would
like to offer my congratulations on behalf of the whole of the
Joint Nature Conservation Committee, as well as from my own
personal congratulations as a former Secretary General of the
Convention!”
The Ramsar Awards will be
presented to the winners at the opening ceremony of the 10th
Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, to take
place in Changwon, Republic of Korea, in October 2008.
The Conference of the
Parties will bring together the delegates of the 158 countries that
so far have joined the Convention, plus many representatives of
international organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations. The
theme of the meeting will be "Healthy Wetlands, Healthy
People".
Further background
information about the Awards and the Ramsar Convention can be found
at http://www.ramsar.org/award/key_awards2008_report_e.htm