The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Global Review of Wetland Resources
[Note: On 3 October 1997, the Secretary General of the
Ramsar Convention, Mr Delmar Blasco, and Dr Michael Moser of Wetlands International
signed a contract for implementation of the project described in this outline.
The project has been designed in fulfilment of Action 6.1.3 of the Strategic
Plan -- "Utilize information from regional wetland directories, national
scientific inventories of wetlands and other sources, to begin development
of a quantification of global wetland resources, as baseline information for
considering trends in wetland conservation or loss" -- and follows up
on Brisbane Resolution VI.21 (2b). -- Web Editor.]
Project outline: Global Review
of Wetland Resources
Contractor: Wetlands
International (Wetland Inventory and Monitoring Specialist Group)
Budget: SFR 71,675
Duration: October 1997
- May 1999
A project developed for
the Ramsar Convention Bureau by Wetlands International to help meet Action 6.1.3
of the Ramsar Strategic Plan 1997-2002, and with funding support from the United
Kingdom.
Aims
- to provide an overview
of international, regional and national wetland inventories and other general
information on global wetland resources
- to recommend how best
to use this information as a global baseline for considering trends in wetland
conservation or loss
- to identify future wetland
inventory development priorities so as to improve future reporting accuracy
on the global wetland resource
Management
- Technical coordination
by Dr Max Finlayson (eriss, Australia), Coordinator of Wetlands International's
Wetland Inventory & Monitoring Specialist Group, with primary review tasks
undertaken through eriss
- regional analyses of
wetland inventories undertaken by Wetlands International's three regional
headquarters
- Project Steering Committee:
a representative from each Wetlands International regional office, Ramsar
Convention Bureau, and the UK, plus selected experts
- workshop (late 1998)
to review draft final outputs
Outputs
- comprehensive (ring-bound)
report (also in electronic form), containing global and regional analyses
and specific summaries and recommendations, covering:
- wetland areas and
distribution, and rate and extent of wetland loss; with analyses of methods
and data reliability
- regional (Ramsar regions)
analysis of wetland inventories, including coverage of wetland types, data/information
fields, collection, handling and storage and update methods, and remote
sensing potential
- assessment of availability
and types of information on wetland location and extent, benefits and values,
extent of loss/degradation, land tenure/management structures, and adequacy
of inventory updating programmes
- proposal of preferred
options for inventory standardisation, including data/information fields,
data collection and handling, updating, and (where possible) regional/national
priority areas
- assessment of options
for future data management for wetland inventories
- analyses supported,
where appropriate, with maps and diagrams
- report supplemented
with an electronic format bibliography and meta-database
- outputs designed to
form the basis of CD-ROM or WWW presentation to enhance data resource access
Report summary for circulation
with documentation for 7th Conference of Contracting Parties, 1999
Full report available for
the 1999 Conference
For
further information, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue
Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999
0169, e-mail 
).
Posted 22 October 1997, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.
