Varied New Ramsar Sites in Tunisia 6 November 2007
Varied new Ramsar sites in Tunisia 6 November 2007 Tunisia Tunisia names 19 new Ramsar sites The government of Tunisia, which joined the Ramsar Convention in 1981, has designated 19 new Wetlands of International Importance, which will be celebrated tomorrow, 7 November 2007, as part of national commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of the present government. Tunisia now has 20 Ramsar sites, covering an area of 726,541 hectares. Michael Smart, who assisted the authorities of the Direction Générale des Forêts in compiling the requisite data for the new sites, emphasizes that "there is a very wide spread of sites all over the territory of the country, and the regional authorities have been much involved in site selection and the preparation of documentation". He notes: "There is also a very wide variety of wetland types, from peatbogs in the north like Dar Fatma and Mejen Ech Chitan (how many people knew there were peat bogs in North Africa?); to a major delta, the Mejerdah; to coastal lagoons like Korba [Lagunes du Cap Bon oriental]; to typical North African salt depressions on the desert edge like Kelbia, Noual and Sidi Mansour, not forgetting the biggest one of them all, Chott El Jerid; to karstic wetlands like Ain Dahab; to oasis wetlands, the Kebili group; artificial wetlands like the Thyna saltpans and the Lebna water reservoir; and finally a major group of tidal sites. I would give a special word to the tidal sites, which are extremely rare in the Mediterranean and very important for their birds, fish and shellfish: they include Kneiss Islands (probably the most important tidal site in the whole of the Mediterranean), the three Djerba sites, and Bahiret el Bibane." The preparations for the new designations have been materially assisted by WWF International's Global Freshwater Programme and WWF's Mediterranean Programme Office (MedPO), with generous support from the MAVA Foundation.
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