A three day South Asian Regional Training Workshop on Wetlands and Water was co-hosted by Regional Ramsar Centre East Asia (RRC-EA) and Wetlands International South Asia from 9th to 11th November 2021 on a virtual platform. The training programme had representation from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka along with expert speakers from worldwide.
Day 1 began with a introduction to concepts and approaches to integrated wetlands and water management. Participants from India and Sri Lanka also shared their views on management and challenges of wetlands; Bhoj Wetland in India and Ramsar Sites in Srilanka
Day 2 kicked off with a session on tools and approaches that emphasised the integration of catchment level planning with a focus on nature-based solutions and green engineering approaches as a hybrid of hard and soft infrastructure to enhance the resilience of communities. The information on available tools for assessment of ecosystem services and water quality of the wetlands were shared with examples from wetlands across South Asia. The participants from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka shared their reflection on use of integration tools and the needs of creating an enabling environment for Sundarbans and Beddagana Wetland Park respectively.
Day 3 held sessions on governance for wetlands and water management, wherein monitoring hydrological regimes of wetlands and role of wetlands as nature-based solutions for water management and challenges with implementation in Indonesia were covered. Participants from Bangladesh shared their experiences in governing and managing the Tanguar Haor Ramsar Site emphasizing the challenges and complexities associated with the same.
The concluding remarks invited reflections from participants around site management, science and knowledge base, and governance and policy with respect to water and wetlands management. The workshop ended with a way forward to conducting such training sessions in the future on different wetland concepts to bring forth a collaborative effort to manage Ramsar Sites in the South Asia.
Participants in the South Asia Regional Training Workshop on Wetlands and Water