Background to the conference World Wetlands Day (WWD) marks the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. This meeting is supporting key ideas outlined in the RAMSAR convention. The London World Wetlands Day conferences have become major events for the wetland community as a whole to meet and share their views. The focus of the WWD 2009 conference is a hard look at the future and what we need to put in place to achieve goals for wetlands over the next five years. The aim of the conference is to look at:
• The next five years and what is required to advance the development of wetlands in UK – the need to clarify the priorities for action for the next water planning cycle and for
• Wetland biodiversity
• Topical issues – the vision for wetlands, water planning, climate change,diseases and wetlands,