Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre celebrates World Wetlands Day 2010 once again by targeting secondary school students with activities aimed at raising awareness on the importance of wetlands.
The theme for this year, Caring for Wetlands ~ an Answer to Climate Change, emphasize the issue which is being faced globally, threatening important ecosystems around the world, especially wetlands, and highlighting the crucial importance of wetlands for climate change mitigation and adaption.
Ramsar estimates that the worldwide loss of wetlands already adds up to 50% – due to human-induced reasons such as habitat loss, pollution, over-exploitation and climate change; all of these factors being either steady or increasing.
In his welcoming speech, President of Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society, Haji Zainie Abdul Aucasa said, “We all have to take action, regarding the fact that wetland ecosystems are in great danger, in Malaysia and worldwide. More awareness needs to rise about just how important wetlands are for our existence – not only in terms of climate change”.
Activities conducted during the celebration included the “Wetlands and Climate Change Challenge” – an interactive educational rally for school students, and a talk to explain the roles that children can play to care about and conserve wetlands by guest speaker from the RAMSAR centre in Japan, Ms. Reiko Nakamura.
An official ceremony was officiated by Datuk Masidi Manjun, State Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment. During this ceremony, prize winners for the Wetlands and Climate Change Challenge, and, the Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre logo design competition were presented.
This year, 2010, also marks the 10th year that Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre, formally known as the Kota Kinabalu City Bird Sanctuary, of being open to the public.
World Wetlands Day 2010 is an initiative of the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands. The celebration at Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre is made possible by the generous commitment by HSBC Bank, under Phase 2 of the Invest in the Young and the Future project, a joint collaboration between HSBC and Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society.
*Press release circulated on 13th February 2010.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
World Wetlands Day 2010
2 February each year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. Each year, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.
(taken from the Ramsar Convention of Wetlands website: www.ramsar.org)
HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad
HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the HSBC Group, one of the largest banking and financial service organizations in the world. Its international network comprises about 8,500 offices in 86 countries and territories operating in the Asia Pacific region, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. HSBC’s presence in Malaysia dates back to more than 120 years when the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited established its first office in Penang in 1884. Currently HSBC Bank Malaysia has a network of 40 branches at key business locations around the country.