MINSK, 10 August (BelTA) - Kotra-Cepkeliai, a unique wetland compelx located in Belarus and Lithuania, has been added to the List of Transboundary Ramsar Sites, BelTA learnt from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of Belarus. The Kotra reserve in Grodno Oblast, Belarus, was designated to the list in 2002 and Cepkeliai, Alytus county, Lithuania, - in 1993. This vast transboundary wooded wetland complex comprises bogs, lakes, wet forests, fen mires and inundated meadows mostly concentrated in the floodplain of the River Kotra forming the national border. It harbors a number of endangered plant and animal species and is of high importance for maintaining biological diversity in the region. With a view to preserving the unique natural complex and coordinating the conservation effort, Belarus and Lithuania sent a proposal to the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention to create the transboundary wetland complex Kotra-Cepkeliai. The proposal was endorsed. The sides are set to sign coordinated management plans to preserve the natural complex, coordinate decision-making, promote rational use of this territory and develop transboundary eco-tourism, the specialists said. All in all, there are thirteen transboundary Ramsar sites in the world, two of which include Belarusian natural complexes: Kotra-Cepkeliai (Belarus-Lithuania) and Prostyr-Pripyat-Stokhod (Belarus-Ukraine). The Convention on Wetlands, or the Ramsar Convention, was signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. This is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the "wise use", or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories. More than 159 countries are signatories to the Convention. Belarus joined the Ramsar Convention in 1999.

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