Dear all
Members of the Kenya Wetlands Forum have already
received this message
- At last everyone can now exhale!
Also, i
think KENWEB deserves a little credit in all this so
congratulations
everyone who gave selflessly their time, information,
maps,
connections, writing skills and editing for the RIS. Whereas for
some
this is an end and a cause for celebration, i think its just a
beginning for the Tana Delta, here comes the daunting task of a
management plan. Lets not leave it to the
hounds!
Wanja
From: Judith Nyunja
[mailto:JNyunja@kws.go.ke]
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 10:56 AM
To:
Catherine Yaa
Cc: Serah Munguti
Subject: Tana River Delta added to the
Ramsar List
Dear Catherine,
I wish to take this opportunity to thank
members of the Kenya Wetlands
Forum for the support they have provided
in the process of designating
Tana Delta Ramsar Site.
The long
journey is finally over as we celebrate Kenyaâ??s 6th Ramsar site.
We look
forward to continue working together with our conservation
partners,
develop and implement management structures for the Tana
delta as we
embrace the principle of â??wise useâ? of wetlands for
sustainable
development.
Please circulate this to the KWF members.
Kind
regards.
_______________________
Judith Nyunja, Ph D
Senior
Scientist & Wetlands Programme Coordinator
Kenya Wildlife Service
P.O
Box 40241-00100
Nairobi
Email: jnyunja@kws.go.ke
From: KWS
Sent:
Friday, October 12, 2012 1:21 PM
To: Samuel Kasiki; Judith Nyunja
Subject:
FW: Tana River Delta added to the Ramsar List
From:
ramsar-exchange-bounces@lists.ramsar.org
[mailto:ramsar-exchange-bounces@lists.ramsar.org] On Behalf Of PECK
Dwight
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2012 1:03 PM
To:
ramsar-exchange@lists.ramsar.org
Subject: [Ramsar-Exchange] Tana River Delta
added to the Ramsar List
The Secretariat is very pleased to announce that
Kenya has designated
the Tana River Delta as a Wetland of
International Importance. As
summarized by Ramsarâ??s MS Ako Charlotte
Eyong, from the accompanying
RIS, the Tana River Delta Ramsar Site
(163,600 hectares, 02°27â??S
040°17â??E), an Important Bird Area
(IBA) in Coast Province, is the
second most important estuarine and
deltaic ecosystem in Eastern
Africa, comprising a variety of
freshwater, floodplain, estuarine and
coastal habitats with extensive
and diverse mangrove systems, marine
brackish and freshwater
intertidal areas, pristine beaches and shallow
marine areas, forming
productive and functionally interconnected
ecosystems.
This
diversity in habitats permits diverse hydrological functions and
a
rich biodiversity including coastal and marine prawns, shrimps,
bivalves and fish, five species of threatened marine turtles and IUCN
red-listed African elephant (Loxodonta africana), Tana Mangabey
(Cercocebus galeritus), Tana River Red Colobus (Procolobus
rufomitratus rufomitratus) and White-collared Monkey (Cercopithecus
mitis albotorquatus). Over 600 plant species have been identified,
including the endangered Cynometra lukei and Gonatopus
marattioides.
As one of the only estuarine staging posts on the West Asia
- Eastern
Africa coastal flyway, it is a critical feeding and
wintering ground
for several migratory waterbirds such as waders,
gulls and terns. The
main human activities include fishing,
small-scale family-oriented
agriculture, mangrove wood exploitation,
grazing, water supply,
tourism and research (ongoing research on the
protection and
monitoring of breeding turtles and the conservation of
dugongs).
Kenya presently has six Ramsar Sites, covering an area of
265,449 hectares.
Best regards, Dwight Peck,
Ramsar.
***********
Dwight Peck
Documentation Officer
Convention
on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971)
Rue Mauverney 28
1196 Gland,
Switzerland
www.ramsar.org
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