What are Ramsar Wetland Cities? How does your city get accredited, and what’s in it for them?
Ariana Magini and Joon Woo Seo from the wetland cities working group collaborated on this presentation.
The initiative: https://www.ramsar.org/our-work/activities/wetland-city-accreditation
The Wetland City Network http://wetlandcity.org/
Hi my name is Ariana Magini. I work with the Australian government and I also currently sit on the independent advisory committee for Wetland City Accreditation. I’m representing the Oceania region in that committee. I’m going to give a presentation about the wetland city accreditation. So I’ll just be presenting an overview about the Wetland City Accreditation, the criteria and process, first and second triennium activities, the third triennium, and the Wetland City Network. So, a bit of background to the Wetland City Accreditation the 2008 resolution on "Wetlands and Urbanization" emphasized the importance of, and the roles of municipalities in conserving urban and peri-urban wetlands. 2012 resolution on "Principles for the planning and management of urban and peri-urban wetlands" requests that the Convention explores establishing a Wetland City Accreditation which may in turn provide positive branding opportunities for cities that demonstrate strong and positive relationships with wetlands. So, the idea for a Wetland City Accreditation was shaped through workshops in Morocco in 2012 and the Republic of Korea in 2014, and Tunisia in 2014 again. And, finally, the Wetland City Accreditation was adopted by Ramsar Convention at CoP12, and then updated again at CoP15, November 2022 So, a bit of overview about it: the purpose is to promote the conservation and wise use of wetlands and regional and international cooperation, as well as generate sustainable socioeconomic benefits for the local populations. Expected outcome includes cities are encouraged to establish enhance positive relationship with their wetlands through increased participation and awareness and consideration of wetlands in local planning and decision-making. The accreditation duration is two CoP cycles so that’s generally six years. And to date 43 cities have been accredited from 17 countries so that’s 18 cities in 2018 and 25 cities in 2022. Of course, there are currently more applications being processed for the next CoP15, so this number will increase. So, some of the benefits of wetland city accreditation are that it raises the profile of the city, it can be used to market green credentials of the city, assist in leveraging funding for the city, inspire other cities to follow suit, create more sustainable living spaces, and fundamentally enhance the well-being of citizens. So, the accreditation is not the end, but a means to the end, and should raise the bar on delivering wise use of wetlands so this is the website you can find further information about the Wetland City Accreditation. (In description) So, as you can see from that these are the cities that have been accredited so far you’ll see that there’s a heavy focus in the Asia region and also the European region so there some regions are yet to have Wetland City Accreditation, but there are a large number so far. So, an operational guidance has been developed that you can find on the Ramsar website, and it outlines process for Wetland City Accreditation and accrediting cities. The sections include a background an overview of the criteria and process, the procedure, guidance notes for administrative authorities, guided notes for cities, the evaluation process, recognition process, renewal, monitoring and evaluation process, and nomination forms. As well as the different categories. So everything you need to know about wetland city accreditation can be found in this operational guidance, available online. So a bit more about the accreditation and criteria process there’s two groups of the criteria there’s mandatory and complementary sections and I’ll outline those a bit further. So in the mandatory Group A: a city can be considered for accreditation if it has one or more wetlands of international importance also known as Ramsar sites, or other wetland conservation sites, fully or partly situated within its jurisdiction, which provides a range of ecosystem services to the city. The city must also have adopted measures for conservation of wetlands and their ecosystem services; as well as implemented wetland restoration and or management measures. The city must have considered the challenges and opportunities of integrated spatial or land use planning for wetlands under its jurisdiction; and has raised public awareness about the values of wetlands by delivering locally adapted information and enabled participation of local stakeholders in decision making processes. And finally it has established a local committee with appropriate knowledge and experience on wetlands and representation of engagement with stakeholders to support the preparation of work to apply for the Wetland City Accreditation and the implementation of proper measures to maintain the series of qualifications for the accreditation. In the second group of criteria these are just complementary criteria, additional information about the city can be provided, which will support the application. These are optional, but strongly recommended especially if the wetlands in the city do not have a legal conservation status. A city can be further considered if it has developed and applied appropriate standards regarding water quality, sanitation, and management in the entire area under the city’s jurisdiction. It recognizes and considers the socioeconomic and cultural values as well as the broader ecosystem services of wetlands, and has established good practices to consider and protect them in decision-making. Here’s an outline of the accreditation process in the time frame. So it takes the full three triennium years. In year one the Secretariat publishes a call for applications, so that’s within 6 months after the CoP. Then the city completes a nomination form. National Administration Authority for the Ramsar Convention will review and endorse the form. So for example the national government usually would receive the application from the cities or the state governments and review them and endorse them before sending them to the Secretariat. So the Secretariat receives the forms and checks the endorsement. Then in the second year the independent advisory committee, which I sit on, we review and select applicant cities to be accredited. In year three the Standing Committee takes note of the independent advisory committee’s report on the outcome of the applications and the Secretariat publishes the list of newly accredited cities and invite them to the CoP. And so these sort of activities take place at the final Standing Committee before the CoP. And then finally at the CoP the Conference of the Parties recognizes the newly accredited cities through a certificate awarding ceremony. So that takes place at the Conference of the Parties and the awarded mayors of the cities are invited to attend the CoP and receive their certificate. So just talking about the previous years of the accreditation, in the first round of wetland city accreditation there were 23 applications received from nine countries four unqualified and one were withdrawn. But 18 cities were accredited so there are six in China, four in France, one in Hungary, four in the Republic of Korea, one in Madagascar, one in Sri Lanka, and one in Tunisia. And these cities will be renewed in 2025 at CoP15. So here’s a photo of the certificate awarding ceremony that took place at CoP13 in Dubai in 2018, and so these are the mayors of the cities that were accredited. In the second triennium, in the second round of accreditation 25 applications were received from 13 countries and it was great to see all 25 cities were accredited in this round so one from Canada, seven from China, two from France, two from Indonesia, two from Iran, one from Iraq, two from Japan, one from Morocco, three from Republic of Korea, one from Rwanda, one from South Africa, one from Spain, and one from Thailand. So this is more countries joining in the accreditation which is great to see. And so these cities will be renewed after two triennium cycles, so that will be in 2028 at CoP16. Here’s a photo as you can see many more mayors participating at this awarding ceremony at CoP14 in November 2022. So, for the third triennium which we are currently in, here is the timeline we’re working with. From February to March this year the deadline for applications for new and renewal was had; and the Secretariat forwarded the applications to the independent advisory committee and we commenced assessment. Then from March to September is the period in which we assess the applications. Between the 15th and the 17th of October the 3rd Round Table of Wetland City Mayors will take place in China. I’ll explain more about that next. In 2025 next year, during the Standing Committee 64 the independent advisory committee will report on the assessment of the results to the Standing Committee. Immediately after the Standing Committee the Secretariat will announce the results, invite newly accredited cities to CoP 15, then in July will be the CoP15 where the certificate awarding ceremony and side event for wetland cities will take place. And the fourth round table of Wetland City Mayors the date is to be confirmed but it will also be in 2025. A bit about the Wetland City Network so it was originally intended to be a global online network for wetland cities. It’s aimed to facilitate exchange of information and enable cooperation opportunities among wetland cities. During the Wetland City side-event at CoP13 the mayor of Suncheon suggested a roundtable of Wetland City Mayors and offers to host the first meeting in Suncheon in Korea so the Ramsar Regional Center – East Asia is serving as the Secretariat of this network at present. The first roundtable of Wetland City Mayors took place, as I said, in Suncheon, Korea from the 23rd the 25th of October in 2019. There were 13 wetland cities that attended with one interested city from Japan. So, the main outcome of this was the establishment of the Network of Wetland Cities with the terms of reference and logo created, as you can see the logo here. Here’s a photo of that Wetland City roundtable, a great participation. The second roundtable of Wetland City Mayors took place June last year in Amiens in France, which is also an accredited city. And 22 wetland cities were in attendance this time with main outcomes being the adoption of the Wetland City Network strategic plan: a six-year strategic plan out to 2028, revision of the terms of reference of the Network of Wetland Cities, as well as the roundtable for Wetland City Mayors; three and four dates and locations chosen. So, the third roundtable in China and the fourth round table in Hungary. Here more photos from the roundtable of Wetland City Mayors taking place in Amiens, France. And that’s all today, thank you for listening and I hope you will encourage cities from your countries to take part in in the next round of the Wetland City Accreditation.