The 11th meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP) of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands took place in Bucharest, Romania from the 6th to 13th July 2012. The theme of this COP was “Wetlands: home and destination” to highlight the particular value of wetlands in tourism and recreation.

On Sunday 8th July during lunch time (13:15-14:45) in Room number 3, MedWet held its side event “The MedWet Initiative: twenty years of regional cooperation”. It was divided into three parts; the first part was a presentation of the International Symposium on Water and Wetlands in the Mediterranean (Agadir, February 2012) and its impacts. The second was a presentation by the Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory (MWO) of the results of the first technical report on the status and trends of Mediterranean wetlands.

The third part was a presentation by the MedWet Communications Officer, Lily Mordechai, on the resources MedWet has developed for young people around the Mediterranean. She presented the Role Playing Game (RPG), the most complete resource that MedWet can provide at the moment and its potential use in environmental education classes and schools around the Mediterranean. The side event participants also had the opportunity to watch a video named “The meeting of two islands” which describes the activity developed and played in Greece on small, coastal wetlands by Greek and French students. The presentation was noted with satisfaction and the participants agreed that education is one of the most important investments we should make to ensure the wise use of wetlands in the future.