International Conference at Mono Lake
by Frances Spivy-Weber
Mono
Lake will be in the international spotlight October,
1–4, 1999. Representatives of lake protection
organizations, journalists, scientists, and business
leaders from Europe, Japan, Russia, South America, South
Africa, and the United States will be coming to Lee
Vining to discuss streams and wetland restoration and the
connection between restoration and water conservation.
The conference will be hosted by Living Lakes, an international network of lake protection groups that promote collaboration among organizations that carry out projects benefiting lakes, wildlife, and people. The Committee is a founding member of the network.
Living Lakes, formed in 1998, was an idea conceived by the Global Nature Fund, which is based in Germany. Jim Strock, former head of CalEPA and currently on the Board of the Global Nature Fund, recommended Mono Lake as a worthy partner in this new venture. In addition to the Mono Lake Committee, founding partners are organizations that work to protect Lake Constance, which is bordered by Austria, Germany, and Switzerland; South Africa’s Lake St. Lucia; Lake Biwa in Japan; the Nestos Lakes in Greece; and La Nava wetlands in Spain. During 1999, the Living Lakes organizers hope to add groups that work at Lake Baikal in Russia, in Brazil’s Pantanal, and at Mar Chiquita, which is Mono Lake’s sister lake in Argentina. Living Lakes plans to have up to twenty organizations in its network within the next few years.
The success of the project to date lies in the strong financial support from mostly European sponsors. Unilever International is the global partner. Other sponsors include DaimlerChrysler, German Lufthansa, and the German National Foundation for Environment. EXPO 2000, which will be held next year in Hanover, Germany, has selected Living Lakes as a global project for its exhibition and is also a sponsor of Living Lakes partnership.
The Mono Lake Committee has taken the lead within Living Lakes to assemble its Website (www.livinglakes.org), which is becoming the central means through which groups communicate with each other and work together on common projects. The Website allows the Living Lakes partners to showcase their diversity, but also to discuss common interests, including environmentally sensitive tourism and recreation, and restoration of degraded wetlands, streams, and lakes.
Living Lakes Conferences are also being held around the world to enable the partners to get to know each other and to forge a strong base for future collaboration. The first conference was held in 1998 at Lake St. Lucia in South Africa to discuss ecotourism. The second conference at Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Germany this May focused on recreation. In October, approximately forty people from throughout the world will join Californians and other specialists from the United States to discuss the latest findings in restoration science. In 2000, the partners will go to Japan to see how Lake Biwa’s waters are protected from nearby heavy industry and to discuss the role of education in protection of lakes and water quality.
If you want to keep up with the plans for October meeting in Lee Vining or to learn more about the other conferences, visit the Living Lakes Website (www.livinglakes.org) or the Mono Lake Website (www.monolake.org). If you want to visit the Living Lakes, consider participating in the Mono Lake Committee’s 1999 Free Drawing, where Lufthansa, one of Living Lakes sponsors, is giving away two business class tickets that can be used in travel worldwide.
Frances Spivy-Weber is the Committee’s Executive Director. She’s bringing her international connections to Mono Lake.
Return to Summer 1999 Newsletter
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