About the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Number of Contracting Parties: 158
Number of sites designated for the List of Wetlands of International Importance: 1743
Total surface area of designated sites: 161,177.358 hectares

Introduction to Ramsar

The brochure in English (and PDF)	La brochure en français (et PDF)	El folleto en español (y PDF)
Ramsar Manual, 4th edition	Manuel de Ramsar, 4e édition	Manual de Ramsar, 4a. edición
Handbooks for the wise use of wetlands	Manuels pour l'utilisation rationnelle des zones humides	Manuales para el uso racional de los humedales

The Ramsar Info Pack (PDF)

Dossier d’information en français Carpeta Informativa en español

Information Paper no. 1	What are wetlands?
Information Paper no. 2	What is the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands?
Information Paper no. 3	The Ramsar Strategic Plan 2003-2008 and the "three pillars" of the Convention
Information Paper no. 4	The List of Wetlands of International Importance ("Ramsar List")
Information Paper no. 5	The Criteria for Identifying Wetlands of International Importance
Information Paper no. 6	The Montreux Record and the Ramsar Advisory Missions
Information Paper no. 7	The Ramsar concept of "wise use"
Information Paper no. 8	Ramsar small grants assistance programmes
Information Paper no. 9	Administrative Authorities and National Focal Points
Information Paper no. 10	Synergy, networking, and international cooperation
Information Paper no. 11	Ramsar Guidance and the Handbooks for the Wise Use of Wetlands
Information Paper no. 12	International cooperation
Information Paper no. 13	How States may join the Ramsar Convention
Information Paper no. 14	How to learn more about the Ramsar Convention
Information Paper no. 15	The List of Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
The full set of Information Papers in English (3.9MB)
The attractive print edition of the Ramsar Info Pack is available at no charge from the Secretariat: ramsar@ramsar.org

Additional info packs available:
Values and Functions of Wetlands
The Cultural Heritage of Wetlands

Administrative Authorities in the Contracting Parties

The Ramsar Standing Committee

The Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP)

Ramsar Secretariat staff

National Focal Points for the STRP

National Focal Points for Education and Public Awareness

How do they all work together? See the leaflet (PDF)
Delivering the Ramsar Convention in your country: National Focal Points and their roles	[ 1 ]	[ 2 ]
Implementación de la Convención de Ramsar en su país - Los Puntos Focales Nacionales y sus funciones	[ 1 ]	[ 2 ]
Comment appliquer la Convention de Ramsar dans votre pays - Les correspondants nationaux et leur rôle	[ 1 ]	[ 2 ]

The Ramsar logo can be used for non-commercial purposes without prior permission from the Secretariat. Examples of such uses might include signs at and brochures about Ramsar sites, printed materials describing the Convention, World Wetlands Day materials, etc. The only rule we have about the non-commercial use of the Ramsar logo is that it should not be positioned in such a way as to suggest that the Secretariat has endorsed or participated in the publication of the product. (For commercial uses of the logo, contact the Secretariat.)

This is a ca. 4 or 5 megabyte TIFF version of the logo with the name of the Convention underneath -- it has been Zipped to about 50kb for easy downloading. If you wish to use the just the graphic itself without the name beneath it, feel free to crop that off.

Victor Pulido of Peru, one of the 1999 winners, receiving his Ramsar Award from the President of Costa Rica

Created in order to recognize and honor the contributions of individuals, organizations, and governments around the world in promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands. Three Awards, each accompanied by a prize of US$ 10,000 provided by the Danone Group, were presented by the President of Costa Rica at COP7 in May 1999, three more at COP8 in Valencia in 2002, and three more at COP9 in Kampala in 2005.

The major biodiversity-related conventions (the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Convention on Migratory Species, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the World Heritage Convention) maintain a Joint Web Site, hosted by the CBD, which provides a useful comparative gateway into the Web sites of all five conventions.

This link will take you to the Web site of Wetlands International, which maintains the Ramsar Sites Database under contract with the Convention and which produces the Database's data and graphical outputs.

Key Documents of the Convention: Everything from texts of COP resolutions, guidelines and criteria, and memoranda of cooperation, to lists of the members states and Ramsar sites, to minutes of the big meetings and, of course, all of the speeches

The Ramsar Library: Web reprints of all of the books published by the Convention

The CEPA Programme: an extensive mini-Web site on Communications, Education, and Public Awareness about Ramsar and wetlands

The Wise Use Centre: Including the Wise Use Resource Library, the Ramsar "Toolkit" of Handbooks for Wise Use, the Wetland Experts Database, and the Directory of Training Opportunities

And a Search Engine, and the Ramsar à la Carte short menu, and a bewildering comprehensive subject index to the whole site! And that's not all -- there's also an equally bewildering keyword index to the key concepts of the Strategic Plan and all of the triple-figures of Resolutions and Recommendations of the Conference of the Parties. THAT must have put somebody back into the Dangerous Ward for a few months.

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail

). Last updated 6 February 2008, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.