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The
workshop was held within the framework of the Mesoamerican Congress
for Biology and Conservation, on July 5-8, 1999, in Guatemala
City, under the auspices of the Central American Commission for
Environment and Development (Comisión Centroamericana de
Ambiente y Desarrollo - CCAD), with funding from the Wetlands
and Coastal Zones Area for IUCN-Mesoamerica and the PROARCA/Costas
Project (CCAD, TNC, URI and WWF.)
The workshop was one of the best-attended
events at the Congress, attracting some 60 participants from all
of the Central American countries and representing academic sectors,
central and local governments, NGOs, civil society, communities,
indigenous groups and others. Their goal was one: to strengthen
knowledge and regional ties for the purpose of improving management
and conservation of wetlands and coastal zones in Central America
and setting geographic and thematic priorities.
Objectives of the Workshop:
- Exchange lessons learned in various approaches to conservation
and management of wetlands and coastal zones in ongoing projects
in Central America
- Set regional and national priorities in the area of conservation
and management of wetlands and coastal zones
- Disseminate advances obtained by the IUCN-Mesoamerica Wetlands
and Coastal Zones Program and the PROARCA/Costas Project
Methodology:
- Presentations on institutional experiences and stakeholder
groups; analysis of conservation and management planning methodologies;
discussion of criteria for management and conservation and geographic
and thematic priority-setting for regional wetlands and coastal
zones; case studies; exchanges among stakeholder groups; group
work to define priorities and finally, plenary sessions
Main lessons learned at the workshop regarding
methodologies and priorities:
- Key stakeholders in the process for conservation and management
of wetlands and coastal zones strongly agree about the need
to join efforts and exchange experiences on a continual basis
to have a greater impact on these ecosystems and the target
groups
- Methodology for setting priorities for wetlands and coastal
zones must be kept flexible in order to adapt to the needs of
each of the Central American countries
- Geographic and thematic priorities for each country had already
been established at national workshops and consensus was reached
on the ten sites identified at the regional level, although
no priorities were established among these sites.
- Priority-setting will require an extensive session of analysis
to define the necessary criteria, value or weighting.
- Despite the different criteria and experiences of participants,
there was a common interest in focusing conservation efforts
on transboundary sites with shared resources. .
A workshop report is currently being prepared
on the main outcomes of discussions and contributions from participants.
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