International Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership

The ICWRP has been officially launched in a formal ceremony on Monday, March 22, 2004, at the White Water to Blue Water Conference in Miami, Florida. Click here for coverage of the launch.

Background

Wetlands and other aquatic habitats are vital natural resources. Their health is invaluable to our society, our environmental heritage and our nation's as well as the world's economy. These critical natural resources purify our water, help prevent flood damage, support our fisheries, and are the homes of a multitude of diverse plant and animal life including rare and endangered species. Besides providing these critical ecological functions, wetlands and other aquatic habitats contribute over $110 billion annually to the U.S. economy alone through tourism, commercial and sports fishing, outdoor recreation and related forms of commerce.

However, the world has lost more than half of our wetlands. Still, each year, more wetlands and the vital habitats they support are disappearing. While we cannot turn back the clock, we can preserve and successfully restore these vital natural resources. For these critical reasons, restoring our wetlands is a top national and global priority. Recognizing the need to more fully involve the corporate sector in restoring these vitally important aquatic habitats, The Gillette Company joined with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in July 1999 to create the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership (CWRP) in Massachusetts. With the invaluable assistance of Coastal America, itself a partnership of federal departments and agencies, the group expanded from its Massachusetts base to the New England region in January 2000 and launched the National CWRP in May 2000.

The CWRP is a unique public-private initiative to protect, enhance and restore critically important wetlands, coasts and waterways. The collaboration consists of businesses, governments, conservation organizations, community groups, and academia. The CWRP provides an innovative model and working framework for the basis of a self-sustaining public/private, multi-stakeholder partnership. It also offers a distinctive mechanism to more actively involve private (business) and non-profit entities in this traditionally public mission and accomplish more restoration at an accelerated pace. More enduring corporate support results from engaging businesses in the decision-making process as a full partner rather than a donor. Improved efficiency results from combining and focusing diverse efforts on a common mission and capitalizing on our synergistic strengths and experiences.

The ICWRP has been created to protect, enhance and restore critically important wetlands, coasts and waterways around the world.

The ICWRP Model

The International CWRP (ICWRP) model is based on a two-pronged approach in cooperation with similar programs using existing international organizations such as the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the United Nations Foundation through the World Heritage Program. The intent of taking the CWRP internationally is to fully engage the private sector, and develop a cohesive multi-stakeholder partnership that joins technical, administrative and financial resources to more efficiently and effectively improve critical aquatic habitats around the world.

ICWRP will serve as the umbrella initiative to facilitate the involvement of businesses, environmental organizations, and governments to participate in a global approach to restoring wetlands. Corporations may contribute to a general fund and/or target funds to a specific project. Through an international corporate partnership council, both large scale and small-medium scale projects will be undertaken. Once established, an ICWRP council will determine the priority of projects submitted from Ramsar and the World Heritage Program. The council will then provide a recommended list of projects for corporate members and NGO's. Governmental representatives serve in an ex-officio and advisory capacity.

Small Scale Projects

The Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar) oversees the Small Grants Fund (SGF) which addresses projects worldwide in developing and transitional economy countries. There is also the option of the Wetlands for the Future (WFF) Fund, a special initiative of the Ramsar Secretariat, the United States Department of State, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The WFF program benefits Latin American and Caribbean institutions in the conservation and wise use of wetlands.

The Ramsar Secretariat oversees small and medium cost projects. These Funds provide an existing mechanism for funding wetland restoration projects. The WFF specifically is based on a partnership arrangement between the US Government and Ramsar which has been in place for several years and has financial accountability. The US Government finances the WFF through congressional appropriations, and year-to-year allocations may vary. The SGF is funded by donor governments worldwide. Corporation donations could be realized as value added to the overall programs.

National, state, provincial or local government agencies, academic institutions, and non-profit organizations are eligible for grants. However, grants cannot be given to individuals or for-profit organizations. There is already a project selection framework in place and there is no need to create another administrative structure. Interested parties will sumit their proposals to Ramsar based on the established application procedures. Ramsar will then submit a list of acceptable proposals to I-CWRP for their prioritizing/selection. The private sector will then select from the approved list and make a contribution at any level.

Download the Ramsar Press Announcement (PDF, requires a plug-in such as Adobe® Reader®).

Large Scale Projects

Large scale cost projects in World Heritage sites will be accomplished through the UNF. The UNF, through a solicitation matching grant process, can provide matching monies for business and environmental groups and to UN agencies, funds and programs such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The UNF is a grantor to the UN. Interested parties work with the appropriate UN agency and the UN to develop their proposals for the conservation and management of World Heritage Sites. The UN agency could then submit a list of acceptable proposals to ICWRP for their prioritization/selection. The UNF would make available matching funds on a case by case basis. Corporations and NGO's interested in participating in the identified sites will be able to join these multi stakeholder initiatives. Once partners have been identified, the Board of Directors approves UNF grants after careful consideration of project proposals submitted by the leading UN agency. Priority would be given to World Heritage sites which overlap with Ramsar and/or Man and the Biosphere reserves.

ICWRP will work with the appropriate UN agency to identify a list of priority projects and jointly develop a menu of wetlands projects for CWRP members and interested parties. Rather than UNF going to individual organizations, the partnering will already be in place under the auspices of ICWRP.

ICWRP Activities

When fully operational, it is anticipated that the ICWRP will be facilitated by the International Corporate Partnership Council. The International CWRP Council will include representatives from corporate and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Gillette Company is the founding corporate member of the council. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the UNF are founding NGO members.

Activities of the International Corporate Partnership Council will include:

• Determining priority projects submitted from Ramsar and World Heritage.
• Recommending lists of projects for support by corporate members and NGOs.
• Collecting and distributing contributions to the general activities of the ICWRP or facilitating contributions to specific projects.

ICWRP Partners

• Coastal America and Coastal America Foundation
• The Ramsar Secretariat
• The Gillette Company
• The Nature Conservancy
• The United Nations Foundation

Sian Ka'an Pilot Project

Sian Ka'an, located just south of Cancun, is widely considered the crown jewel of the Mexican Caribbean. The concentration of coastal dunes, lagoons, mangrove swamps, seasonally flooded marshlands and lowland forests, provide a mosaic of habitats for everything from jaguars and sea turtles to monkeys and manatees. Salt and freshwater pools attract great numbers of waterfowl, providing critical breeding and nesting areas for an estimated 500 bird species. Mangrove swamps nourish the near shore Meso-American Reef — the second largest reef system in the world — and the enormous variety of coral and fish species it supports.

Coastal development, unregulated tourism and unsustainable farming and fishing practices are fragmenting Sian Ka'an's remaining wetland habitat. Working together through the International Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership initiative, The Nature Conservancy, Gillette and the UN Foundation are supporting efforts to conserve freshwater, marine and coastal resources in and around Sian Ka'an. The project, being implemented by Mexican NGO Amigos de Sian Ka'an, seeks to promote the protection of critical coastal habitats and ensure the viability of the region's freshwater system through a number of activities including developing a conservation land buyer program targeting the coastal areas of the Sian Ka'an reserve, and acquiring a key tract of land that protects the only access to an extensive wetland system.

Contact ICWRP

For more information on ICWRP, please contact:

	Coastal America contact: Patmarie Nedelka, +1 (202) 401-9928 patmarie.nedelka@usda.gov
	UN Foundation contact: Erika Harms, +1 (202) 887-9040 worldheritage@unfoundation.org
	Ramsar contact: Margarita Astralaga, +41 22 999 0178 astralaga@ramsar.org
	The Gillette Company contact: George Olson, +1 (781) 292-8141 George_olson@gillette.com
	The Nature Conservancy contact: Randy Curtis, +1 (703) 841-4864 rcurtis@tnc.org