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March 25, 2009
Conservation leaders wanted
Recognize those people who make a difference
This June, one environmental leader, company or group will be recognized with the 2009 Alberta Lieutenant Governor’s Greenwing Conservation Award for making a difference in wetlands conservation in their communities. Ducks Unlimited Canada is looking for your help to nominate a recipient for this award. This award recognizes those who have demonstrated leadership in a project or activity that has contributed to the public awareness of conserving wetlands for the benefit of waterfowl, wildlife, and people. The award is sponsored by Ducks Unlimited Canada and presented by the Honourable Norman L. Kwong, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.
“Ducks Unlimited Canada knows there are many people in Alberta that work tirelessly to conserve our wetlands,” says Neil Downey, president of Ducks Unlimited Canada. “We want to thank these dedicated people and showcase their efforts to all Albertans.”
Unsung heroes
You can call them the stewards of the land or the unsung heroes of the earth. It could be the farmer who manages his land to enhance livestock and wildlife productivity, the environmental group that works together to restore a wetland, or a youth group that works to clean up a wetland area near an urban center. Maybe it’s the company that chooses to conserve wetlands in their operating areas or the volunteer who plans events to bring awareness of wetland values to the community. These are people in our cities, towns and neighbourhoods, who are making a difference in wetlands conservation.
DUC has been committed to wetland conservation since 1938. Not only are wetlands key to the lifecycles of waterfowl and other wildlife, but wetlands also moderate the effects of droughts, floods, climate change and erosion. Wetlands offer tremendous recreation and learning opportunities for people of all ages, and have the potential to remove and store greenhouse gases from the Earth’s atmosphere.
Nominate someone today
More than 70 years ago, a group of enthusiastic sportsmen and naturalists came together under the name of Ducks Unlimited to conserve Alberta’s wetlands, protect wildlife and preserve our rich natural heritage. Seventy years later their dream lives on because of the many dedicated Albertans who believe that healthy wetlands are part of the Alberta Advantage. DUC wants to know who they are.
If you know a person or organization that has volunteered time to protect and preserve Alberta wetlands, nominate him or her for the 2009 Alberta Lieutenant Governor’s Greenwing Conservation Award by calling Anh Hoang at (403)476–1879 or downloading and completing the nomination form below. The nomination deadline is April 20, 2009.
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February 2, 2009
Celebrate World Wetlands Day
What is World Wetlands Day?
February 2nd each year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. Each year, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.
World Wetlands Day 2009
Upstream-Downstream – Wetlands connect us all
The suggested theme for this year is river basins and their management. We all live in a river basin (or drainage basin, catchment, watershed, etc.), and most of the people reading this are well aware of the challenges of managing it – and particularly the challenge of making sure that the basin planners think of wetlands and not just water in their planning.
WWD this year, February 2, 2009 or thereabouts, will be an opportunity for people to look around at their own wetland and its interconnections with the environment around it – how the wetland benefits the surroundings and, of course, how activities throughout the river basin may affect their wetland.
The suggested slogan for this year – “Upstream – Downstream” – captures this sense of how interconnected we all are within the river basin, how we can be impacted by the activities of those upstream of us and how our activities affect those downstream.
The Convention has put a great deal of energy over many years into providing guidance on managing river basins because it is such a vital issue: good site management can be quickly negated by bad decisions on managing water at the basin level. While wetland managers need to engage at all levels with the water managers, the basin level is probably the most challenging.
There is another dimension to consider, too, and that is raising the awareness of all people about their river basins. It’s not just about planners, it’s also about users, and we are all users of water in river basins. Whoever we are – farmer, fisher, factory owner, or family – our activities have an impact on the basin in which we live, so ensuring that we can bring about a better understanding of how a river basin functions, of the impact of the users – and the abusers – and the challenges of good management, is our key focus for World Wetlands Day 2009.
For more information visit The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands website.
Copyright
Photos are courtesy Ducks Unlimited Canada andmay not be reproduced without permission