PDF superior Resolution X.21 Guidance on responding to the continued spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza

31. Currently, wildlife health problems are being created or exacerbated by unsustainable activities such as habitat loss or degradation, which facilitates closer contact between domestic and wild animals. Many advocate that to reduce risk of avian influenza and other bird diseases, there is a need to move to markedly more sustainable systems of agriculture with significantly lower intensity systems of poultry production. These need to be more biosecure, separated from wild waterbirds and their natural wetland habitats, resulting in far fewer opportunities for viral cross-infection and thus pathogenetic amplification (Greger 2006). There are major animal and human health consequences (in terms of the impact on economies, food security, and potential implications of a human influenza pandemic) of not strategically addressing these issues. However, to deliver such an objective in a world with an ever-growing human population, and with issues of food- security in many developing countries, will be a major policy challenge.

31. Currently, wildlife health problems are being created or exacerbated by unsustainable activities such as habitat loss or degradation, which facilitates closer contact between domestic and wild animals. Many advocate that to reduce risk of avian influenza and other bird diseases, there is a need to move to markedly more sustainable systems of agriculture with significantly lower intensity systems of poultry production. These need to be more biosecure, separated from wild waterbirds and their natural wetland habitats, resulting in far fewer opportunities for viral cross-infection and thus pathogenetic amplification (Greger 2006). There are major animal and human health consequences (in terms of the impact on economies, food security, and potential implications of a human influenza pandemic) of not strategically addressing these issues. However, to deliver such an objective in a world with an ever-growing human population, and with issues of food- security in many developing countries, will be a major policy challenge.

Ramsar’s ninth Conference of the Parties (CoP 9) in 2005 recognised that - as well as the direct impacts of HPAI H5N1 on susceptible birds - public attitudes and therefore support for wetland conservation, particularly of Ramsar sites and other wetlands of importance for waterbirds, could be negatively affected by concerns as to the possible role of waterbirds in the spread of HPAI H5N1. Parties were also greatly concerned that in many countries there was a significant lack of information and, in some countries, public misunderstanding, on important issues related to the spread of HPAI, the risks it may pose, and how to anticipate and respond to outbreaks of HPAI. Accordingly CoP 9 agreed Resolution IX.23 on Highly pathogenic avian influenza and its consequences for wetland and waterbird conservation and wise use. Inter alia this called on STRP to develop practical advice to assist countries to respond to this serious and rapidly developing situation, and to report this to CoP 10.

in 2005 recognized that, as well as the direct impacts of HPAI H5N1 on susceptible birds, public attitudes (and therefore support for wetland conservation, particularly of Ramsar sites and other wetlands of importance for waterbirds) could be negatively affected by concerns about the possible role of waterbirds in the spread of HPAI H5N1. Parties at COP9 were also greatly concerned that in many countries there was a significant lack of information and, in some countries, public misunderstanding, about important issues related to the spread of HPAI, the risks it may pose, and how to anticipate and respond to outbreaks of HPAI. Accordingly COP9 agreed Resolution IX.23 on Highly pathogenic avian influenza and its consequences for wetland and waterbird conservation and wise use. This Resolution inter alia called on the Convention’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) to develop practical advice that could assist countries in responding to this serious and rapidly developing situation.

12. THANKING those who participated in the workshop convened by the Ramsar Bureau in June 2002 to refine and further elaborate a second CEPA programme, and also those CEPA Focal Points, representatives from Ramsar’s IOPs and other conventions, and other CEPA experts who contributed their views, as well as the participants in the CEPA Workshop organized as part of the Global Biodiversity Forum held immediately before this COP, and the Ministry of Environment of the Autonomous Government of Valencia, Spain, for the financial support provided for the Workshop;

We analysed the genome of a low-pathogenic avian H5N2 influenza vi- rus isolated from the faeces of experimentally infected Pekin ducks and Leghorn-type chickens to determine its origin and molecular characteristics. The complete genomic sequence was determined using a Sanger-based ge- nome sequencing method and was subsequently characterized by phyloge- netic analysis and genetic comparison. The results of this study showed that 8 genomic segments corresponded to an avian influenza virus that were related with strains isolated in Mexico. Investigation of the haemagglutinin gene revealed the presence of few basic amino acids at the cleavage site and lack of a potential N-glycosylation site at position 11. The gene encoding the PB1 protein lacked PB1-F2 and the basic polymerase gene codes for PA-X. In addition, the basic polymerase gene contained the consensus ribosomal frameshifting motif TCC TTT CGT C, which is required for the expression of the PA-X. Molecular characteristics showed that the virus has features of a low-pathogenic H5 influenza virus with the exception of a potential N-glyco- sylation site at position 11. The genome information for this particular virus will provide a molecular map for further in vivo studies to identify why some influenza viruses can persist in chickens for long periods of time. Such in- formation will be useful in countries such as Mexico, where the virus has been a poultry health problem since 1994 and has the potential to evolve high pathogenicity.

,WLVVKRZQWKHGHYHORSPHQWRIWKHLQÁXHQ]D$+1HSLGHP- ics in our country. The mass media had an important role in to make known the extent of the epidemics but with its alarmist style contributed to create a state of uncertainty despite of the mild to moderate intensity of the epidemics. The public health institutions acted according to the circumstances and, many times, it seemed that they echoed the alarmist mass media and the overestimations of the real impact of the epidemics. K EY WORDS ,QÁXHQ]D$+16ZLQHLQÁXHQ]D6ZLQHÁX

32. In order to draw up a list of regional initiatives to be endorsed as operating within the framework of the Convention, COP10 is invited to adopt “Operational Criteria” as a main new tool and reference against which proposals can be assessed as either corresponding to the requirements for endorsement or needing further preparatory work. A proposal for “Operational Criteria” is attached to COP10 DR 6. They are intended to expand and replace the “guidance for the development” of proposals for regional initiatives adopted by COP8 (Annex I to Resolution VIII.30), which have been used to assess proposals in the past.

12. THANKING those who participated in the workshop convened by the Ramsar Bureau in June 2002 to refine and further elaborate a second CEPA programme, and also those CEPA Focal Points, representatives from Ramsar’s IOPs and other conventions, and other CEPA experts who contributed their views, as well as the participants in the CEPA Workshop organized as part of the Global Biodiversity Forum held immediately before this COP, and the Ministry of Environment of the Autonomous Government of Valencia, Spain, for the financial support provided for the Workshop;

Strictly speaking, it is only Contracting Party representatives on national delegations who can negotiate text of draft Resolutions, but traditionally the Ramsar Convention and its COPs have also welcomed the input and support of COP observers, including NGOs, and especially the five NGOs to which the Convention has afforded International Organization Partner (IOP) status (BirdLife International, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Wetlands

15. CONTINUES TO ENCOURAGE Contracting Parties to adopt and apply, as part of their management planning for Ramsar sites and other wetlands, a suitable monitoring regime, such as that outlined in the annex to Resolution VI.1 (1996), and to incorporate within these monitoring regimes the Convention’s Wetland Risk Assessment Framework (Resolution VII.10), so as to be able to report change or likely change in the ecological character of Ramsar sites in line with Article 3.2;

Para el desarrollo de los estándares se han tenido en cuenta instrumentos intergubernamentales tales como: Convenios, Declaraciones, Recomendaciones y Resoluciones de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT); Principios y líneas directrices de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE); Declaraciones y Principios de la Organización de Naciones Unidas (ONU). Otras referencias relevantes son: Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP): “Guidance for companies responding to the Investor CDP Information Request”, Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB): “Climate Change Reporting Framework – Edition 1.1”, Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB): “Climate Change Reporting Framework Boundary Update”, y Normas Internacionales de Contabilidad (IASB)

Olson, D.M, Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E.D., Burgess, N.D., Powell, G.V.N., Underwood, E.C., D’amico, J.A., Itoua, I., Strand, H.E., Morrison, J.C., Loucks, C.J., Allnutt, T.F., Ricketts, T.H., Kura, Y., Lamoreux, J.F., Wettengel, W.W., Hedao, P. & Kassem, K.R. 2001. Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: a new map of life on Earth. BioScience 51:933- 938. (Available at: http://www.worldwildlife.org/science/data/terreco.cfm).

• to make efforts to integrate cultural and social impact criteria into environmental assessments, which could include issues such as forms of social organization, political structures, systems of natural resources use, including patterns of land use, languages, sacred sites and ritual ceremonies, beliefs and religions, customary practices, and customary lore/law systems;

9. The coordinating bodies of regional initiatives should aim to develop the capacity to take on the additional role of coordinating and supervising regional projects. Projects and programmes to support the initiative through actions with a geographically or thematically more restricted focus, often limited in time, are likely to develop increasingly over time. They should not put excessive demands on the global Ramsar Secretariat, but rather should be supervised by the coordinating bodies of regional initiatives.

i) All countries that have not yet conducted a national wetland inventory should do so, preferably using an approach that is comparable with other large-scale wetland inventories already underway or complete. These should focus on a basic data set that describes the location and size of the wetland and the major biophysical features, including variation in the areas and the water regime – see the further guidance in the Convention’s Framework for Wetland Inventory (Resolution VIII.xx).

12.4 Ensure that the proposed MAB BRIM monitoring procedure (see 11.8 above), once developed, is evaluated by the relevant Ramsar STRP working groups; also ensure that Ramsar site managers are made aware of the monitoring procedure; and seek to test the monitoring procedure, including the use of indicators, on jointly designated sites. 12.5 Develop demonstration projects for the co-management of jointly-designated sites,

More speculatively, it seems possible that as societies move into a postindustrial stage, with more emphasis on knowledge occupations (Drucker, 1969) and more flexible educational and occupational structures (Handy, 1989), the role of guidance may become more salient and more pervasive than it has been in the past. ln industrial societies, labour has tended to be concentrated in large organisations, individuals have tended to stay in such organisations for long periods of time, and any career progression they may have experienced has tended to be managed by the organisation; much the same has been true of the system of education, which has preceded employment rather than being interwoven with it; guidance has tended to be concentrated at the interface between the two systems, supporting individuals in their passage between them. In post-industrial societies, all these generalisations are likely to be less valid. The case for lifelong access to guidance in support of continuous career development, in mediating the "psychological contract" between individuals and organisations (Argyris, 1960; Herriot, 1992) on an iterative basis, and in supporting the construction of self as a "reflexive project" (Giddens, 1991), accordingly becomes stronger and more pressing (Watts, 1994; 1996a; Collin and Watts, 1996).

25. This wide variety of societal benefits, effecting stakeholders on various spatial, temporal and institutional scales (policy makers, civil society, private sector, finance sector), enables the application of a wide range of funding instruments, including - next to traditional incentives and government funding.

 Pushing and pulling method for wetlands: State-of-the-art techniques were used to install the pipeline across the wetlands. The pushing and pulling method is used during the rainy season. It uses a preassembled section of pipe which is floated into position over an inundated trench. The buoys are removed and the pipe, coated with concrete jackets, sinks into the ditch. This method requires less clearing than conventional methods, because the construction space is limited to that required to allow the backhoe to cross the wetland to stockpile excavated soil. In contrast, under conventional methods the entire area is usually cleared during the dry season in order to set the pipe.