12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties
to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP12)

On Tuesday, 9 June, plenary met to adopt draft resolutions. Delegates agreed to use COP11 language on "indigenous peoples and local communities" in all resolutions. Delegates also agreed to proceed on the basis of revised drafts that have not been translated into all official languages or that have not been circulated the day before, in order to advance proceedings.

12:15pm: Plenary adopted without amendments the resolution on evaluating and ensuring the effective management and conservation of Ramsar Sites. Following a suspension to address delegates' concern about clarity of other draft resolutions to be adopted, plenary considered the revised draft resolution on the status of Sites in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

1:13pm: Plenary adopted resolutions on the programme on communication, capacity development, education, participation and awareness 2016-2021, and on the status of Sites in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

3:20pm: Plenary adopted resolutions on: wetlands and disaster risk reduction; the responsibilities, roles and composition of the Standing Committee and regional categorization of countries under the Ramsar Convention; and financial and budgetary matters, with a 0% budget increase for 2016-2018.

4:46pm: Plenary adopted several resolutions, including on: peatlands and climate change; wetland city accreditation of the Ramsar Convention; and new strategic plan 2016-2024.

6:39pm: Ramsar COP12 drew to a close, after adopting 16 resolutions by consensus, including the Declaration of Punta del Este by acclamation

ENB SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS: The Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis of Ramsar COP12 is available. In HTML and PDF versions.