Strong Skills for Strong Wetland Protection

From 28 to 29 October, a training workshop for Ramsar Convention focal points in the field of Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA) took place in the World Heritage city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Participants from all Central Asian countries came together to strengthen regional cooperation and enhance the strategic impact of CEPA for the protection of wetlands across Central Asia.

Training highlights:

• Targeted development of communication and education skills, led by Dutch expert Melike Hemmami
• Joint development of a regional action plan within the Ramsar Regional Initiative for Central Asia (RRICA) to promote long-term awareness of the importance of wetlands
• Field visit to the Tudakul and Kuymazar Ramsar sites, including in-depth discussions on visitor engagement through Wetland Information Centers (WIC)

The training was funded under the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN), coordinated by the project “Policy Dialogue and Knowledge Management on Climate Protection Strategies” (DIAPOL-CE) implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change of Uzbekistan initiated the training and played a key role in its design.

Photos: J. Wunderlich / Michael Succow Stiftung; Firuz Safarov; Maxim Mitropolskiy