The Annotated Ramsar List
The Annotated Ramsar List is also available free of charge from the Ramsar Secretariat as a 500-page spiral-bound book.
Names of Parties and sites. The names of Contracting Parties employed by the Ramsar Convention follow the forms used by the United Nations. In terms of alphabetization, the principal counterintuitive names in English are the Democratic Republic of Congo under "D", the Republic of Korea under "R", and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia under "T". In principle, names of Ramsar sites follow exactly the form employed by the Contracting Parties on the Ramsar Information Sheets accompanying each new site designation; these, too, can frequently be counterintuitive, sometimes very counterintuitive (e.g., "The Dee Estuary" under "T").
Entry into force. Under the terms of the Ramsar Convention, the Convention enters into force for each new Contracting Party four months after the Party has completed its accession procedures with UNESCO and designated its obligatory first site(s). Thus for nearly every Contracting Party, there will be one or more Ramsar sites shown as having been designated four months prior to the Convention’s entry into force. (The exception is for a nation that deposits a declaration of succession to a former political entity [e.g., Ukraine to the former Soviet Union], in which case entry into force is normally dated from the date of that nation's independence.)
Montreux Record. The Montreux Record, established by Resolution 4.8 (1990), is the "record of Ramsar sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference" and is maintained by the Ramsar Bureau in consultation with the Contracting Parties concerned. Resolution 5.4 (1993) specified that the purpose of the Montreux Record is to identify priority sites for positive national and international conservation attention, including applications of the Ramsar Advisory Mission and allocation of resources available under financial mechanisms.
Transboundary Ramsar Sites. In some instances, Ramsar Contracting Parties have established their new and existing Ramsar sites as parts of Transboundary Ramsar Sites (TRS), meaning that an ecologically coherent wetland extends across national borders and the Ramsar site authorities on both or all sides of the border have formally agreed to collaborate in its management, and have notified the Secretariat of this intent. This is a cooperative management arrangement and not a distinct legal status for the Ramsar sites involved.
Dates. The short forms of dates follow the dd/mm/yy format: 31 December 1999 (December 31, 1999) is written as 31/12/99.
Site coordinates. The coordinates given for each Ramsar site are intended only to be approximate "center points" of the sites.
Standard abbreviations. ha = hectares (2.5 acres), .01 square kilometer; km = kilometers; m = meters
