What WLI did in 2024
WLI's Review of 2024
A summary of WLI staff and volunteers’ activities in 2024
End of an era!
Chris Rostron, Head of WLI for 16 years, moved on to lead the Ramsar Regional Initiative for the Mediterranean, MedWet. Read his farewell message and see a selection of photos over the years.
New Head of WLI
November saw Tina Redshaw take over as the new Head of WLI. Meet Tina here!
Dear WLI members
Very best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year. I don’t believe it’s too late to be wishing a Happy New Year to all of you! Working from Cambodia as I do, I have two New Year celebrations behind me, and one more to go!
Whilst I have now been in the role since late 2024, I thought the Annual Review was an opportune moment for me to introduce myself to the WLI network, and to tell you how delighted I am to be WWT’s International Engagement Manager. I have big boots to fill, after Chris Rostron’s lengthy tenure in this position.
For the past almost 25 years, I was a British diplomat working primarily in East and South East Asia. Working in China on three separate occasions, I covered political and economic, trade and investment, climate change and environment issues, including sustainable cities. I was British Ambassador to Timor-Leste for 3 years shortly following independence, and again British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia between 2018-2022. Throughout my diplomatic career I have worked with governments and NGOs on climate change, nature and environmental conservation, on women’s economic empowerment and leadership and on youth skills development. Before becoming a diplomat, I worked in international development in China, Mongolia and South East Asia for the UK’s volunteering agency Voluntary Service Overseas. I have substantial experience of leading multi-cultural teams, mentoring and coaching, delivering training, building and maintaining stakeholder networks and lobbying, advocating and influencing.
Having grown up on the south coast of England, where the gentle rolling chalk hills of the South Downs meet the sea, I loved spending time in nature from a young age and am drawn always to being close to water. Forest and coastal walks, hiking in the Himalayas, cycling and exploring less-trodden paths are essential ingredients to restoring my batteries and to my sense of wellness.
At the same time as looking back to achievements in 2024, I am excited about our activities in 2025. Of course, the Convention on Wetlands COP15 will be a highlight for many of us, offering the opportunity to highlight not just the importance of wetlands, but to also highlight the brilliant work of wetland centres and the people who work in and for them.
I look forward to working with all of you, our members, to provide more opportunities to connect, share experience and knowledge, and to raise even greater awareness of the wonders of wetlands. Only working together can we achieve our high ambition to protect, restore and conserve wetlands and their abundant biodiversity.
Small Grants year two
We once again ran a Small Grants programme for WLI members, supported by Eversheds Sutherland. We had a fund of GBP £24,000, but thirty of you applied, requesting a total of £88,000, so more were disappointed than we awarded grants. By the end of 2024 we had distributed grants to Angola, Portugal, and Taiwan.
1st WLI Asia-Oceania Conference
Building on their great tradition of WLI Asia, RRC-EA brought dozens of you together with Diyasaru Park in Sri Lanka for the first WLI Asia-Oceania Conference.
The Conference was celebrated at a high level in Sri Lanka, including addresses by the President and Prime Minister. Seventy-five people took part, including youth delegations, Regional Initiatives, and WLI members from 14 countries.
Read a full report on the WLI Asia-Oceania pages of the Ramsar Regional Centre-East Asia website.
East Atlantic Flyway Youth Forum
We again co-organised the East Atlantic Flyway Youth Forum, with the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative and Youth Engaged in Wetlands. The youth participants received bespoke training on participative or citizen science.
Wetland Learning Hub
WWT's Wetland Learning Hub opened a regionally specific course for the Indo-Burma region, and started the groundwork for a course tailored to people in West Africa, with partners PRCM.
MBP Annual Meeting
WLI members in the East Atlantic Flyway worked on a six year outline and one year work plan for the regional network Migratory Birds for People (MBP).
Ramsar CEPA
The core team continues to be a voice for wetland wetland visitor centres on the Convention on Wetlands CEPA Oversight Panel. Chris Rostron was Deputy Chairperson and representative of the International Organisation Partners. He represented the CEPA OP at the Standing Committee in May, presenting the new CEPA workplan, and making links with the Scientific and Technical Review Panel, the Standing Committee members and the secretariat.
WLI and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements
At the Africa Eurasia Migratory Waterbird Agreement, we provided insight to their CEPA work at a workshop.
Chris Rostron and Connor Walsh both served on the CEPA Working Group of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership.
World Migratory Bird Day – Birds and schools
CEPA with partners across Africa, Europe and West / Central Asia. WLI will also benefit from a higher profile and access to new partners in these flyways.
Team assistant
Khouloud Belhadj finished up her stint as team assistant and moved to BirdLife Malta. María Elisa Sánchez joined the team and has worked across the WLI website, YouTube channel, and Flyway Youth Forum.
Volunteer Dave Rogers has continued to apply his analytical thinking to WLI member profiles on the website.
Twenty one new members joined WLI in 2024.
Our Facebook page grew to 1,682 followers.
Our X account now has 1,048 followers.
Consultancy
WWT’s Wetland Engagement Advisory Services is proud to highlight its recent work to enhance wetland conservation efforts globally. A notable example includes a one-time free consultancy opportunity with WLI member Lake Nakuru Centre, where Wetland Engagement Advisory Services developed and delivered a monitoring and evaluation framework for CEPA-based sessions.
We’re also thrilled to announce the launch of the Wetland Engagement Advisory Services website, a dedicated platform to showcase our expertise and consultancy offerings. The site demonstrates how Wetland Engagement Advisory Services can create bespoke solutions tailored to organizations striving to make a meaningful impact in wetland conservation.
Visit the new site to discover how Wetland Engagement Advisory Services can support your work and contribute to a brighter future for wetlands and the communities that rely on them.
Webinar
For the WLI webinars this year we fell short of our target of three per year. Following the WLI member survey in 2023, we aimed to make the webinars more frequent by making them less formal and structured. We managed one short webinar on the theme of making an app for a wetland visitor centre.