This website provides all required information concerning the programme, the objectives, the partners, registration and more, and will be updated on a regular basis to keep you informed of the latest developments. It also features a detailed history of the 1991 International Symposium on Wetlands that was held in Grado, Italy, which has become a benchmark for the protection of Mediterranean wetlands. You can read about the Grado Declaration, which led to the establishment of the MedWet initiative and find out how it has provided the incentive for the current Symposium, twenty years later. You will also find related video interviews of key figures in wetlands conservation who have participated in the Grado 1991 Symposium talking about their experiences, the lessons learned and the expectations from the Agadir Symposium.

The aim of the 2012 symposium is to review the current situation of water and wetlands in the Mediterranean, assess the new challenges and plan for the next 20 years. As stated by Thymio Papayannis, Chair of the International Organising Committee and Senior MedWet Advisor in his video interview “twenty years have gone by and we need to assess the situation, first of all we need to see what are the new challenges, and that will be the key element of Agadir.s How things have changed in the Mediterranean? What are the new problems that have to be faced?  But also we have to see in a positive manner what are the opportunities, because we have new partners now…”, The vision for the Agadir 2012 International Symposium then, is that “all the participants will contribute in obtaining a new consensus and direction that will be valid for the next twenty years”

Apart from plenary sessions, the meeting will include, a field trip of the Souss Massa Ramsar site and the following six thematic workshops on key issues that affect wetland ecosystems, their functions and values. Each one of them will be co-organised by both an internal MedWet member and an external partner organisation with the best relevant expertise in each topic.

1. Water resources management and wetland services
2. Adaptation to climate change
3. Human pressures and wetland services
4. Values of wetland cultural services
5. Sustainable use of wetland resources
6. Wetland ecosystems biodiversity and its values

Please reserve the dates now, so you can join us from the 6 to 8 February 2012 in Agadir, Morocco. Also,  make sure you bookmark the site and return for further information, regular updates and the latest news about the upcoming “Water and Wetlands in the Mediterranean” 2012 International Symposium.

If you have any comments or questions, please contact us at: agadir2012@medwet.org.

La Convention Ramsar, son Initiative MedWet et le Haut-Commissariat aux Eaux et Forêts et à la Lutte Contre la Désertification du Maroc annoncent l’organisation d’un symposium international sur l’eau et les zones humides dans le bassin méditerranéen, qui se tiendra du 6 au 8 Février 2012 dans la ville d’Agadir au Maroc. BirdLife International, UICN, le Centre de recherche de la Tour du Valat, Wetlands International et le WWF International sont des partenaires clés dans l’organisation du Symposium. La Fondation MAVA et le Ministère Italien de l’Environnement, sont les sponsors principaux de cet évènement.

Le Symposium est organisé vingt ans après une conférence majeure sur les zones humides méditerranéennes qui a eu lieu à Grado en Italie et donné naissance à l’Initiative MedWet. Le Symposium  vise à rassembler les personnes clés de la conservation et les acteurs politiques afin d’examiner la situation actuelle de l’eau et des zones humides dans le bassin méditerranéen, d’évaluer les nouveaux défis et planifier les vingt prochaines années.

La situation actuelle et les défis seront examinés à travers six ateliers thématiques qui traiteront les pressions humaines et les services des zones humides, l’adaptation au changement climatique, les valeurs des services culturels des zones humides, l’utilisation durable des ressources et les valeurs liées à la biodiversité de ces zones humides. Des chiffres et des données actualisées accompagneront les ateliers thématiques, sur la base des conclusions du premier rapport de l’Observatoire des Zones Humides Méditerranéennes. Diverses manifestations parallèles auront également lieu.

The Ramsar Convention and its MedWet Initiative, the High Commissariat for Water, Forests and Desertification Control of Morocco announce the organisation on an international symposium on water and wetlands in the Mediterranean basin, which will be held on 6-8 February 2012 in the city of Agadir, Morocco. BirdLife International, the IUCN, the Tour du Valat Research Centre, Wetlands International and WWF International are key partners in the organisation of the event. Main sponsors of the Symposium are the MAVA Foundation and the Ministry of Environment of Italy.

The Symposium is organised twenty years after the key conference on Mediterranean wetlands, which took place in Grado, Italy and gave rise to the MedWet Initiative. The Symposium aims to bring together key conservation and policy actors in order to review the current situation of water and wetlands in the Mediterranean, assess the new challenges and plan for the next twenty years.

The current situation and challenges will be viewed through six thematic workshops that will deal with key issues that affect wetland ecosystems like human pressures and wetland services, adaptation to climate change, values of wetland cultural services, sustainable use of wetland resources and wetland ecosystems biodiversity and its values.

Real facts and figures on the status and trends of Mediterranean wetlands will accompany the workshops based on the conclusions of the first report of the Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory. Various side events will be organised.

In February 1991, a first pan-Mediterranean conference on wetlands was held in the town of Grado, in northern Italy which adopted the goal to ‘stop and reverse the loss and degradation of Mediterranean wetlands’. This led to the implementation of important measures for the conservation and wise use of these unique ecosystems and the establishment of the MedWet Initiative (MedWet).

Twenty years after the Grado conference, this new International Symposium aims to review the current situation of water and wetlands in the Mediterranean, assess the new challenges and plan for the next 20 years. Important objectives are to assess the changes occurring in the Mediterranean and their potential impact on wetlands, to identify ways in which wetland resources can be used sustainably with a strong emphasis on water resources and to provide ways for closer cooperation between experts and actors in the Mediterranean involved in the water area, wetlands and other related sectors.

The Symposium will bring together experts from the  fields of water and wetlands, scientists, wetland managers, conservationists, policy and decision makers and other stakeholders involved in water management and wetland conservation and the sustainable use of wetland resources and services.

The meeting will include plenary sessions and workshops on key issues such as sustainable water resources management, climate change, wetland services, cultural heritage, wise (sustainable) use of wetland resources and the services provided by biodiversity. There will also be a field trip of the Souss Massa Ramsar site, a workshop of young “experts” on Mediterranean wetlands, various exhibitions related to wetlands of the Mediterranean region, presentations of local products and various cultural visits in the  Agadir region.

The Symposium will provide the opportunity to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, as well as the 20th anniversary of MedWet Initiative.