The Tour du Valat honoured by the Ramsar Convention

On Wednesday 3 June 2015, the Tour du Valat received the Ramsar Convention Award for Merit, at the 12th Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention in Punta del Este (Uruguay).

The Ramsar Wetlands Awards have been attributed since 1999 at the international Conferences of Contracting Parties (COPs). Their aim is to give international recognition to individuals, organisations, and governments for their contributions to the conservation and wise use of wetlands throughout the world. This year, for the first time, three Merit Awards have also been given to reward particularly notable achievements.

Wetlands are some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the World, and among the most productive for the human communities that greatly depend on them due to the broad range of ecosystem services they provide, such as agriculture, fishing, tourism, water purification, and flood control. Yet they are highly threatened by human pressures. This is particularly true in the Mediterranean Basin, where wetlands are estimated to have lost about 50% of their surface area during the 20th century, with serious repercussions for biodiversity and local populations.

The Ramsar Convention Merit Award was handed to the Tour du Valat’s General Director Jean Jalbert on Wednesday 3 June 2015 in recognition of 60 years of research and action for the study, management, and preservation of Mediterranean wetlands. It is also in honour of an extraordinary human adventure led by Luc Hoffmann, who created this unique research centre in the Camargue in 1954. The Tour du Valat has since welcomed generations of researchers from many nationalities, all passionate about wetlands and the biodiversity they host.

The Tour du Valat was one of the initiators of the Ramsar Convention, and then played a decisive role in the creation of the MedWet initiative in 1991. It has also actively contributed to the implementation of the principles of the Ramsar Convention in the Mediterranean Basin. In this 12th COP, it has been very active and involved, working on draft resolutions, taking part in many events at the “Mediterranean Agora”, and presenting the results of the Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory.

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Tour du Valat, France (Research Centre for the Conservation of Mediterranean wetlands): Its mission is to halt and reverse the loss and degradation of Mediterranean wetlands and their natural resources and promote their wise use. The centre develops integrated research and management programmes, which promote exchanges between scientists and wetland users. Transfer of knowledge is a central tool to achieve its mission.  A large part of the Tour du Valat estate, located in the Camargue Ramsar Site is classified as a Regional Nature Reserve. The Tour du Valat library is a unique documentation centre in the Mediterranean region, specialised in wetland ecology and visited by many scientists, students and teachers.  It was one of the institutions which participated in the creation of the MedWet initiative in 1991, and it has contributed to the implementation of Ramsar principles in the whole Mediterranean basin. This award coincides with the celebration of the Tour du Valat’s 60th anniversary.