World Wetlands Day, 2 February


What is World Wetlands Day?

2 February each year is World Wetlands Day. This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat has provided materials so that government agencies, non-governmental organizations, conservation organizations, and groups of citizens can help raise public awareness about the importance and value of wetlands.

Wetlands International event, Thailand, WWD 2011

» Click here to see local, national and international adaptations.

Index for WWD 2012Activites reported for 2012


World Wetlands Day materials
 

Assessment of World Wetlands Day, report by Meg Gawler, 2009 (PDF)

wwd2001-philippines.jpg (18679 bytes)

From 1997 to 2011, the Convention’s Web site has posted reports from more than 120 countries of WWD activities of all types, from lectures and seminars, nature walks, children’s art contests, sampan races, and community clean-up days, to radio and television interviews and letters to newspapers, to the launch of new wetland policies, new Ramsar sites, and new programmes at the national level. Government agencies and private citizens from all over the world have sent us their news, often with photographs, and these annual summaries and over 1000 individual reports, with more than 1400 images, make an excellent archive of ideas for future celebrations. 

And each year since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat, with generous financial assistance from the private sector Danone Group, has offered a new selection of posters, stickers, videos, pocket calendars, leaflets and information packs free of charge and has suggested a unifying theme for the benefit of those who wish to use it. Here is a general guide to both the annual WWD index pages and the reports of each year's activities.


evian2.jpg (2371 bytes)danone.jpg (2960 bytes)Since its inception, the production and distribution of materials for World Wetlands Day have been financially supported by the Evian Project funded by the Danone Group. 



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The Convention today

Number of » Contracting Parties: 160 Sites designated for the
» List of Wetlands of
International Importance
2,006 Total surface area of designated sites (hectares): 192,822,023

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