Subject: Asian wetlands project
ASIAN ANATIDAE ATLAS PROJECT
CALL FOR INFORMATION
Wetlands International is currently preparing an atlas of internationally important sites for Anatidae (ducks, geese and swans) in Asia. In geographic coverage, it will extend across Russia from the Ural Mountains east to Far East Russia, East, Central, South, and Southeast Asia and Alaska (USA). The atlas will define population flyway boundaries and identify important sites in the Asian region for Anatidae, and provide a brief description on each species.
The project is an international collaborative effort to rapidly compile existing published and unpublished information. The atlas will serve as a very valuable reference to governments, technical experts and NGOs on important sites and identify gaps in area coverage and in knowledge. Production of the Atlas is aimed in time for the next Meeting of Contracting Parties of Ramsar Convention in May 1999 in Costa Rica. A web-version is also intended to be produced.
Two basic criteria, compatible with the Ramsar criteria for identification of wetlands of international importance are being used to identify sites:
(a) >20,000 individuals of total number of Anatidae supported, and
(b) >1% of a population of an Anatid species.
In order to incorporate all available data, we seek the co-operation and participation of all people who possess this information. Published and unpublished information is needed to identify key sites for each species throughout its range and we seek the following data:
- Name of the site;
- Coordinates (latitude, longitude) of the center of the site;
- Protected status of the site: protected / partially protected / none / unknown;
- Population size / estimate of Anatidae that the site has supported: number, species, date/month/year, published or unpublished references.
To find out more about the project and ways to assist, kindly contact the overall project co-ordinators or key country contacts. Key contacts for other countries are currently being finalized.
Overall Project Co-ordinators:
Yoshihiko Miyabayashi, Anatidae Flyway Officer of Wetlands International - Japan, JAWGP, Minamimachi 16, Wakayanagi, 989-5502 Japan, TEL&FAX +81-228-32-3294 / E-mail: yym@mub.biglobe.ne.jp
and
Taej Mundkur, Wetlands International - Asia Pacific, IPSR, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel +60-3-7572176, Fax: +60-3-7571225/ Email: taej@wiap.nasionet.net
Country Contacts (for the Central Asian-Indian Flyway)
Anisuzzaman Khan, Director NACOM, Room 125-127, Mohammadia Supermarket, 4, Sobhanbag, Dhaka-1207 Bangladesh Email: anis@bdcom.com
Asad Rahmani, Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, Mumbai 400023 India, Tel: +91-22-282 1811, Fax: +91-22-283 7615
Email: BNHS@bom3.vsnl.net.in
Sergei Yerokhov, Institute of Zoology, Academy of Science, Almaty, 480060 Kazakstan
Email: common@zool2.academ.alma-ata.su
Olga Anisimova, Wetlands International-Russia Programme, PO Box 55, Moscow 125319 Russia Tel: +7095-019067077, Fax:+7095-1904655 E-mail: Oanisimova@wwfnet.org
Elena Mukhina - Kreuzberg, Institute of Zoology, Uzbek Akademy of Sciences, Niyazov Street 1, Tashkent, Uzbekistan Tel: +3712-635100, Fax: +3712-406791 Email: bukhara@glas.apc.org