World Wetlands Day 2020 and Kota Kinabalu Wetland 20th Anniversary Celebration

2nd March 2020 The Geek

The World Wetlands Day 2020 was held on 29th February 2020. It was held in conjunction with Kota Kinabalu Wetland 20th Anniversary. The event was organised by Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society. It started from 6.30 pm until 9.30 pm and the entrance was free. I came a bit late, around 8.30 pm, so I pretty much missed a lot of things.

So, does anyone of you know what is Ramsar site is? Well, I don’t until I first went to one at Ulu Segama, Sabah back in 2012 or 2013. I was inspecting one of Sabah Forestry Department’s project. So I got myself reading up more about it. So what is it?

For starter, it’s the name of a city in Iran called Ramsar, where the international treaty was first signed. The treaty, called Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat is for the conservation and sustainable use of wetland. You can read it up more on Wikipedia. Search for Ramsar Convention.

When I arrived, they have already started the Moonlight Cinema by Borneo Eco Film Festival and ANBATAR (Tiritipan Youth Club). Ah, no wonder I’m seeing their event on my Facebook events. Didn’t manage to watch the whole film though. Bummer.

There are also performances by talented young people from Jesselton International School and Synthesis of The Soul Dancer Studio. Double bummer for me, I missed that.

But I did manage to browse through a small exhibition by UCSF and Sabah Forestry Department.

I also missed registering for a night walk into the mangrove. When was the last time you went in at night? Never. Exactly! OK, if they going to do this again next year, I’ll come early. But in the meantime, I’ll try to have a walk there on daytime first.

Apart from that, you can have you face painted, henna arts and portrait painting if you attended the event. I saw a few food trucks so you know you won’t get hungry. It’s a normal thing nowadays for any event. Food trucks are a must.