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Financial and budgetary matters

Repealed

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Table of Contents

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  24. Annex III: Analysis of 2013-2015 budgeted non-Core expenditures

Financial and budgetary matters

1.RECALLING the budgetary provisions established by Article 6, paragraphs 5 and 6, of the Convention on Wetlands;
2.ACKNOWLEDGING WITH APPRECIATION the prompt payment by the majority of Contracting Parties of their contributions to the Core budget of the Convention, and NOTING WITH CONCERN that a number of Parties still have outstanding contributions (COP11 DOC. 15);
3.NOTING WITH GRATITUDE the additional voluntary financial contributions made by many Contracting Parties through their Ramsar Administrative Authorities and other agencies, including some development assistance agencies, and also the contributions made by non-governmental organizations and the private sector for activities undertaken by the Secretariat, and UNDERLINING the importance of such voluntary contributions to the non-core budget;
4.ACKNOWLEDGING WITH APPRECIATION the financial and administrative services provided to the Secretariat by IUCN, underpinned by the Services Agreement between Ramsar and IUCN revised in 2009;
5.NOTING that Contracting Parties have been kept informed of the financial situation of the Secretariat through the audited annual financial statements for 2008 to 2011 and the reports of the Standing Committee meetings in 2009, 2010 and 2011 that have been circulated to Contracting Parties; and
6.RECOGNIZING the need to continue to strengthen financial partnerships with relevant international organizations and other entities and to explore additional funding opportunities through their existing financial mechanisms consistent with those institutions’ mandates and existing programming;
The Conference of the Contracting Parties
7.ACKNOWLEDGES that since the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties in 2008 the Secretariat has managed the Convention’s funds prudently, efficiently and openly;
8.ACKNOWLEDGES the Contracting Parties that have served in the Subgroup on Finance of the Standing Committee during the past cycle, and in particular Finland, which has acted as Chair of the Subgroup;
9.DECIDES that the Terms of Reference for the Financial Administration of the Convention contained in Annex 3 to Resolution V.2 (1993) will be applied in toto to the 2013-2015 cycle;
10.FURTHER DECIDES that the Subgroup on Finance, as established by Resolution VI.17, will continue to operate under the aegis of the Standing Committee and with the roles and responsibilities specified in that Resolution;
11.NOTES that the 2013-2015 budget includes a Core element funded by contributions from Contracting Parties, prepared on the basis that there are no fundamental changes to the operation of the Secretariat during 2013-2015, and a non-Core unfunded element to be financed by additional voluntary contributions, and APPROVES the combined budget for the 2013-2015 cycle as attached in Annex I to enable the implementation of the 2009-2015 Strategic Plan of the Convention;
12.AUTHORIZES the Standing Committee, with the advice of its Subgroup on Finance, to revise Core budgetary allocations between budget lines in the light of significant positive or negative changes during the cycle to costs, rates of inflation, interest and tax income projected in the budget, without increasing the contributions of Parties or increasing the charges paid to IUCN above the budgeted 13% maximum;
13.AUTHORIZES the Standing Committee, with the advice of its Subgroup on Finance, to revise non-Core budgetary allocations and priorities depending upon the success of the Parties and Secretariat in securing voluntary funding for these activities;
14.DECIDES that the contribution of each Contracting Party to the core budget (other than those making only voluntary contributions) should be in accordance with the scale of assessments for the contributions of Member States to the United Nations budget as approved by the UN General Assembly, which for those only paying voluntary contributions is applied on an indicative basis, and except in the case of Contracting Parties which, in applying the UN scale, could make annual contributions to the Ramsar Convention Core budget of less than CHF 1,000, in which case the annual contribution will be that amount;
15.NOTES WITH GRATITUDE that at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties the Contracting Parties of Africa contributing less than CHF 2,000 agreed to increase their payments to that level, and that the difference between CHF 2,000 and their annual assessment will form a voluntary contribution specifically earmarked for African Regional Initiatives;
16.URGES all Contracting Parties to pay their contributions to the core budget promptly by 1 January of each year, or as soon thereafter as that country’s budget cycle will permit;
17.URGES Contracting Parties with outstanding contributions to make a renewed effort to settle them as expeditiously as possible to enhance the financial sustainability of the Convention through contributions by all Contracting Parties, and REQUESTS the Secretariat to contact Contracting Parties with outstanding contributions in excess of three years and work with them to identify appropriate options and actions for addressing the situation and initiating a plan for making payment of contributions, and to report back to each Standing Committee meeting and meeting of the Conference of the Parties on activities taken in this regard and results achieved;
18.ENCOURAGES Contracting Parties and others to increase additional voluntary contributions to fund the important non-Core element of the 2013-2015 combined budget, which includes, inter alia, the work of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel, the Ramsar Sites Information Service, Ramsar Advisory Missions, Regional Initiatives and Centres, and the Small Grants Fund;
19.REQUESTS the Secretariat to continue to develop new approaches and tools to secure voluntary financial contributions for priority projects;
20.REAFFIRMS its conviction that the Convention’s grants programmes, including the Small Grants Fund, are of great value in terms of the implementation of the Convention and INVITES Parties and others to make additional voluntary contributions to secure the efficient operation of these programmes, REQUESTS the Standing Committee to review the operation of the programme during the triennium, and ALSO REQUESTS the Secretariat to make the Small Grants Fund a priority in all fundraising efforts;
21.DECIDES that the Reserve Fund:
a)provides for unforeseen and unavoidable expenditures;
b)receives realized core budget surpluses (or deficits);
c)should not be lower than 6% of the annual core budget of the Convention and not greater than 15%;
d)should be administered by the Secretary General with the approval of the Subgroup on Finance as established by the Standing Committee;
and that this decision supersedes Resolution VI.17 (1996), paragraph 10;
22.REQUESTS the Secretary General to endeavor to increase the Reserve Fund over the 2013-2015 triennium in accordance with this budget and to report annually to the Standing Committee on the status and propose to its Subgroup on Finance for its concurrence prior to any uses of the Fund; and
23.AFFIRMS that the Ramsar Convention budget for the 2013-2015 cycle shall not be considered as setting a precedent for the budget in subsequent years or of any other international convention.
Annex I: Combined Budget for 2013-2015. Annex II: Illustrative Core budget contributions by Contracting Party. Annex III: Analysis of 2013-2015 budgeted non-Core expenditures.

Annex III: Analysis of 2013-2015 budgeted non-Core expenditures

 None core budget itemThree year funding requirement CHF
1. Junior Partnership/fundraising officer to support the Partnership coordinator and build the unit. Could be JPO or other.B390,000
2. 1 Regional Officer to support each of the 4 regional teams in the Secretariat, from 2014. Could be JPO.C1,174,000
3. Support to Regional Initiative Networks and Centres. Funding for the priority activities.D900,000
4. STRP programme of work for 2013-2015 (Strategy 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.5, 3.1), including the Global Wetland Observing System (GWOS) project (but excluding the RSIS project in item 8 below)E1,905,000
5. Junior officer as webmaster/social media officer to strengthen the communications teamF390,000
6. IT Officer to, inter alia, drive upgrades in the website and documentation management software, allow for InforMEA participation and support other database management and upgrades. Also to oversee electronic RSIS and Ramsar Sites Database overhaul projectG390,000
7. Interpretation for Standing Committee sub group meetingsI75,000
8. Investment in Electronic RSIS submission and RIS database processes and software1400,000
9. World Wetlands Day (currently funded by Danone) at the current level, i.e., preparation and dissemination of products such as leaflets and posters and other CEPA materials for customization and promotion of WWD (Strategy 4.1)2300,000
10. Emergency Ramsar Advisory Missions for Parties unable to self-fund their missions (Strategy 2.4, 2.6)3450,000
11. Delivery of one CEPA action planning workshop and other CEPA actions to support the Core-funded CEPA activities (Strategy 4.1)4300,000
12. CHF 1 million per annum of resourcing for the Small Grants Fund and CHF 400,000 in other grant funding in order to keep the three current grant programmes operational. (Support to many 2009-2015 Strategies, including 1.3 and 5.1)54,200,000
13. Annual regional meetings (technical), with enhanced funding in the pre-COP year to fund delegates and meeting costs for COP preparatory regional meetings61,050,000
14. Sponsorship to bring eligible delegates to COP12 in 2015 (Strategy 3.3, 4.2)71,200,000
15. 2016-2021 visioning process and 2016-2021 Strategic Plan, with significant input from Contracting Parties and other relevant stakeholders for 2016-20218250,000
   
 CHF13,374,000