Agadir - Morocco - 06-09 Fébruary 2012

RAC/SPA participated as external partner to the International Symposium on Water and Wetlands in the Mediterranean Sea held from the 6th to the 9th February 2012 at Agadir (Mrocco) and organised by the Ramsar Convention and its Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative (MedWet) and the Moroccan authorities under the high patronage of HM King Mohammed IV.

The major objectives of the Agadir symposium are to:

• Review progress made since the 1991 Grado Declaration and to assess the changes happening in the Mediterranean - especially on the water cycle - and their potential impact on water-related ecosystems.

• In view of these changes, promote and optimise the services to humanity rendered by wetland ecosystems (as documented by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment).
• Identify and promote ways for sustainability of water and wetland resource use and the invaluable services that water-related ecosystems provide now and in the future.
• Obtain commitments from major stakeholders in the Mediterranean region on actions in favour of wetlands and the good use of their services.
• Reorient and strengthen the MedWet Initiative with an updated vision and strategic directives, so that it can contribute substantially to the achievement of the above objectives.

At this symposium, RAC/SPA has organised and conducted, jointly with the IUCN-Med, the thematic workshop: Values of the biodiversity dependent on wetland ecosystems (including direct services to humanity, science and education).