This is the Convention’s fourth CEPA Programme and it will operate for a nine‐year period. It has been developed in conjunction with the fourth Strategic Plan of the Convention adopted at COP12 and is consistent with this document. It replaces the annexes to Resolutions VII.9, VIII.31 and X.8. Appendix 1 includes an explanation of the key terms associated with this Programme, including communication, education, participation, awareness, and capacity building. Appendix 2 outlines the roles and responsibilities of the CEPA National Focal Points. Appendix 3 includes the possible target groups and stakeholders of Ramsar’s CEPA programme for 2016-2024.
Promoting ecosystem functions and services and supporting Contracting Parties with high quality guidance to manage wetlands wisely are central to the Ramsar Convention. The Convention considers communication, capacity building, education, participation and awareness as important tools to support the delivery of the Strategic Plan.
The Convention recommends that communication, capacity building, education, participation and awareness are employed in all areas and at all levels. This programme provides a set of strategies to guide the delivery of that recommendation. The commitment of the Contracting Parties in the last triennium is reviewed in detail in Ramsar COP11 DOC.14.
Support for the CEPA Programme should therefore be seen as an investment which aims to help decision‐makers and mobilise local and national‐scale actions directed at achieving the conservation and wise use of wetlands, in support of the objectives of the Strategic Plan.