Dubai Municipality's Environment Department is organising an art competition on wetlands for children in the 5-18 age group under the banner  “Healthy wetlands… Healthy people.”

Two winning works will represent the UAE and be displayed at the venue of the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), to be held in South Korea, from October 28 to November 4.

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

There are presently 158 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 1782 wetland sites, totaling 161 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.  

The UAE's sole Ramsar-approved wetland is the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary.-TradeArabia News Service