Two excellent new books available. With excellent production values and many fine photographs, the book is a must read and a major reference on the MedWet Initiative and much more. Detailed maps and solid scientific data make the work indispensable for students of Ecuador's natural heritage. Ramsar Convention celebrates its 1000 th Ramsar site. The Government of Honduras has designated the world's 1000 th Wetland of International Importance, as of 10 July 1999.
More detail is available here .
Cambodia becomes the 116th Contracting Party. Cambodia thus becomes the 116 th Party to the Convention, and the treaty will come into force for Cambodia on 23 October 1999. Manko is a brackish tidal flat, covering an extensive area at low tide, and an important transit point for shorebirds whose migration route brings them along the Nansei Islands. Japan chose the same occasion to expand the limits of the existing Ramsar site Kushiro-shitsugen , well known to readers who attended Ramsar's COP5 in Kushiro City in Hokkaido in 1993, from 7726 to 7863 hectares. Japan thus now has 11 Ramsar sites totalling 83,725 hectares.