Ramsar Secretary General visits Panama

Mr. Anada Tiega, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention, arrived in Panama on February 9th 2010 for a three day visit. Dr.Tiega was accompanied by María Rivera, Senior Advisor for the Americas,

The National Environmental Authority (ANAM) hosted Mr. Tiega during his first visit to this Central American country and briefed him on Panama’s wetlands achievements. This included the recently completed and published Inventory of Continental and Coastal Wetlands and the national policy on wetlands, currently under development.

Mr. Tiega visited the headquarters of The Ramsar Regional Center for Training and Research on Wetlands in the Western Hemisphere (CREHO), one of the first regional initiatives of the Convention in the Americas. Mr. Tiega also participated in CREHO’s first Board of Directors meeting of 2010.

During a visit to the Panama Canal Mr. Tiega lunched with the Minister for Environmental Affairs, Javier Arias, along with Esteban Saenz, Panama Canal’s Executive Vice President of the Department of Environment, Water and Energy, as well as several members of the Panama's National Wetlands Committee.

-- Translation by:  Martha Barrand – UNV

From left to right: Dr. Anada Tiega, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention; Rosa Montañez, Executive Director of CREHO; Javier Arias, Minister for Environmental Affairs.

Left side from back to front: Maria Rivera, Senior Advisor for the Americas –Ramsar Convention; Ruben Anguizola, ANAM; Rosa Montañez, CREHO; Rosabel Miró, Panama Audubon Society; Alida Spadafora, ANCON.  Right side from back to front: Oscar Vallarino y Esteban Saenz, Panama Canal Authority; Anada Tiega, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention; Javier Arias, Minister for Environmental Affairs; Rodrigo Tarté, City of Knowledge Foundation.  

First row from left to right: Left side from back to front: María Rivera, Senior Advisor for the Americas – Ramsar Convention; Arturo Peña, CONANP-Mexico; Yessenia González, ANAM-Panama; Rosa Montañez, Executive Director of CREHO.  Second row from left to right: Marisol Dimas, ANAM-Panama; Itzel Broce, Chancery of Panama; María Stolk, Wetlands International; Ruben Anguizola, ANAM-Panama; Ainsley Henry, NEAP-Jamaica; Juan Maté, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.