The Ramsar Convention Manual, 4th edition, 2006

Ramsar logo The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

The Ramsar Convention Manual, 4th edition (2006)

The Ramsar Convention Manual

A Guide to the Convention on Wetlands
(Ramsar, Iran, 1971)

4th edition

Ramsar Convention Secretariat - 2006

The Ramsar Convention Manual: a Guide to the Convention on Wetlands
(Ramsar, Iran, 1971), 4th ed. Gland, Switzerland: Ramsar Convention Secretariat, 2006.

Reproduction of material from this publication for educational and other non-commercial purposes is authorized without prior permission from the Ramsar Secretariat, providing full acknowledgment is given. Reproduction of material for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without the prior written permission of the Ramsar Secretariat.

Note: The designation of geographical entities in this Manual, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Ramsar Convention Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Citation: Ramsar Convention Secretariat, 2006. The Ramsar Convention Manual: a guide to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), 4th ed. Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Gland, Switzerland.

Cover photo: The Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge Ramsar Site, Costa Rica. Photo: Julio Montes de Oca, UICN-ORMA, 2004.

2 February - World Wetlands Day
Join the worldwide Ramsar community in commemorating the anniversary of the Convention.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the 4th edition
1. The Ramsar Convention
1.1 What is the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands?
1.2 What are wetlands?
1.3 Why conserve wetlands?
1.4 Why an intergovernmental convention on wetlands?
1.5 Why do nations join the Ramsar Convention?
1.6 Who may join the Ramsar Convention?
1.7 What are the commitments of Parties joining the Ramsar Convention?
1.8 Further interpretation of the commitments
1.9 Reporting
1.10 The Ramsar Convention today
1.11 The Ramsar Strategic Plan and the "three pillars" of the Convention
1.12 Synergies with other environment-related conventions
2. A brief history of the Ramsar Convention
2.1 Background
2.2 The Paris Protocol and the Regina Amendments
2.3 A Ramsar chronology - key events
2.4 Further reading

3. How does the Ramsar Convention work?
3.1 The Conference of the Contracting Parties
3.2 The Standing Committee
3.3 The Secretariat
3.4 The Administrative Authorities and diplomatic notifications
3.5 The Scientific and Technical Review Panel
3.6 The Ramsar Convention budget
3.7 The Ramsar regions
3.8 National Ramsar Committees
3.9 Cooperation with other organizations

4. Assisting the Contracting Parties

4.1 The Ramsar 'Toolkit'

4.2 The wise use of wetlands
4.2.1 Establishment of national wetland policies
4.2.2 Knowledge of wetlands and their values
4.2.3 Action at particular wetland sites
4.2.4 The Wise Use Project

4.3 Listed Sites
4.3.1 Criteria for identifying Wetlands of International Importance
4.3.2 The Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands
4.3.3 The Ramsar Sites Database
4.3.4 Classification System for Wetland Type
4.3.5 The Montreux Record
4.3.6 The Ramsar Advisory Mission
4.3.7 Article 3.2

4.4 International cooperation
4.4.1 Cooperation with and between Contracting Parties
4.4.2 Transboundary wetland conservation
4.4.3 Transboundary species conservation
4.4.4 The twinning of Ramsar sites
4.4.5 Regional cooperation and initiatives
4.4.6 Small projects assistance programmes
4.4.7 Project support and external support agencies

4.5 Reserves and training
4.5.1 Reserves
4.5.2 Training

4.6 Communicating the Ramsar message
4.6.1 The Convention's CEPA programme
4.6.2 Ramsar and the Internet
4.6.3 World Wetlands Day and WWD materials
4.6.4 The Wetland Conservation Awards
4.6.5 The Wise Use Resource Centre
4.6.6 Publications
4.6.7 Signs at Ramsar sites

5. How States may join the Ramsar Convention
5.1 The instrument of accession
5.2 Designating wetlands for the Ramsar List
5.3 The cost of joining the Convention

Appendices

1 Text of the Ramsar Convention
2 Resolutions and Recommendations of the Conference of the Contracting Parties
3 References
4 The 'Ramsar Toolkit': contents of the Handbooks series
5 Glossary of Ramsar acronyms, abbreviations, and terminology

Foreword to the 4th English edition

When the Ramsar Manual was first compiled by T. J. Davis and published in 1994, it was welcomed as an essential vade mecum through the sometimes bewildering world of Ramsar resolutions, guidelines, and terminology. It grew out of date quickly, however, especially because the work completed by the Conference of the Contracting Parties at its 6th meeting, held in Brisbane in 1996, added a large number of new ideas and directions to the Convention's evolution.

Accordingly, a second edition was published in 1997, incorporating all of the institutional changes of the preceding three years and including as annexes all of the major documents associated with the Convention.

Following COP7 in San José in 1999, however, it was felt that the volume of Ramsar documentary material had grown too large to be included as appendices to the Manual, and the first edition of the 9-volume "Ramsar Toolkit" (The Ramsar Handbooks for the Wise Use of Wetlands) was published separately in January 2000 in order to make available all of the major guidance adopted by the COP. The Ramsar Manual was discontinued at that time.

The Handbooks have proved to be invaluable, and a third edition, including the guidance documents emerging from COP8 in 2002 and COP9 in 2005, is now becoming available on the Ramsar Web site and soon on CD-ROM as well. The Manual was missed, however, and many people have argued that there was still a need for a brief, printed introduction to the Convention and its processes.

Thus a third edition was prepared in 2004, one which took account of all that had changed since 1997, and now further revisions in this fourth edition will bring the story up-to-date as of December 2006. For Ramsar documents and resources mentioned in the text without references, those links can be found in Appendix 3. References are also supplied to the material that is presented in the 17 volumes of the Ramsar Handbooks for the conservation and wise use of wetlands (3rd ed., 2006).

Note: Parts of the following text have been cross-referenced to other sections of the text by use of the symbol § to indicate section numbers.

December 2006

1. The Ramsar Convention

1.1 What is the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands?

The Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty adopted on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. Thus, though nowadays the name of the Convention is usually written "Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971)", it has come to be known popularly as the "Ramsar Convention". Ramsar is the first of the modern global intergovernmental treaties on the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, but, compared with more recent ones, its provisions are relatively straightforward and general. Over the years, the Conference of the Contracting Parties has further developed and interpreted the basic tenets of the treaty text and succeeded in keeping the work of the Convention abreast of changing world perceptions, priorities, and trends in environmental thinking.

The official name of the treaty, The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, reflects the original emphasis upon the conservation and wise use of wetlands primarily as habitat for waterbirds. Over the years, however, the Convention has broadened its scope of implementation to cover all aspects of wetland conservation and wise use, recognizing wetlands as ecosystems that are extremely important for biodiversity conservation and for the well-being of human communities, thus fulfilling the full scope of the Convention text. For this reason, the increasingly common use of the short form of the treaty's title, the "Convention on Wetlands", is entirely appropriate. (Changing the name of the treaty requires amending the treaty itself, a cumbersome process that for the time being the Contracting Parties are not considering.)

The Convention entered into force in 1975 and now (as of December 2006) has 153 Contracting Parties, or member States, in all parts of the world. Though the central Ramsar message is the need for the sustainable use of all wetlands, the "flagship" of the Convention is the List of Wetlands of International Importance (the "Ramsar List") - presently, the Parties have designated for this List more than 1,634 wetlands for special protection as "Ramsar sites", covering 145 million hectares (1.45 million square kilometres), larger than the surface area of France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland combined.

The Depositary receives, reviews, and accepts the instruments of accession of each country member of the treaty, keeps the official text of the Convention in six official languages, and provides legal interpretations of the text when required. The Depositary does not have a role in the administration and/or implementation of the treaty.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) serves as Depositary for the Convention, but the Ramsar Convention is not part of the United Nations and UNESCO system of environment conventions and agreements. The Convention is responsible only to its Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP), and its day-to-day administration has been entrusted to a secretariat under the authority of a Standing Committee elected by the COP. The Ramsar Secretariat is hosted by IUCN-The World Conservation Union in Gland, Switzerland.

The mission of the Ramsar Convention, as adopted by the Parties in 1999 and refined in 2002, is "the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world".

1.2 What are wetlands?

Wetlands are areas where water is the primary factor controlling the environment and the associated plant and animal life. They occur where the water table is at or near the surface of the land, or where the land is covered by shallow water.

The Ramsar Convention takes a broad approach in determining the wetlands which come under its aegis. Under the text of the Convention (Article 1.1), wetlands are defined as:

"areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres".

In addition, for the purpose of protecting coherent sites, the Article 2.1 provides that wetlands to be included in the Ramsar List of internationally important wetlands:

"may incorporate riparian and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six metres at low tide lying within the wetlands".

Five major wetland types are generally recognized:

marine (coastal wetlands including coastal lagoons, rocky shores, and coral reefs);
estuarine (including deltas, tidal marshes, and mangrove swamps);
lacustrine (wetlands associated with lakes);
riverine (wetlands along rivers and streams); and
palustrine (meaning "marshy" - marshes, swamps and bogs).

In addition, there are human-made wetlands such as fish and shrimp ponds, farm ponds, irrigated agricultural land, salt pans, reservoirs, gravel pits, sewage farms and canals. The Ramsar Convention has adopted a Ramsar Classification of Wetland Type which includes 42 types, grouped into three categories: Marine and Coastal Wetlands, Inland Wetlands, and Human-made Wetlands.

According to the text of the Convention, marine wetlands are considered to be wetlands up to a depth of six meters at low tide (the figure is thought to come from the maximum depth to which sea ducks can dive whilst feeding), but the treaty also provides for waters deeper than six meters, as well as islands, to be included within the boundaries of protected wetlands. It is also worth noting that lakes and rivers are understood to be covered by the Ramsar definition of wetlands in their entirety, regardless of their depth.

Wetlands occur everywhere, from the tundra to the tropics. How much of the earth's surface is presently composed of wetlands is not known exactly. The UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre has suggested an estimate of about 570 million hectares (5.7 million km2) - roughly 6% of the Earth's land surface - of which 2% are lakes, 30% bogs, 26% fens, 20% swamps, and 15% floodplains. Mitsch and Gosselink, in their standard textbook Wetlands, 3d ed. (2000), suggest 4 to 6% of the Earth's land surface. Mangroves cover some 240,000 km2 of coastal area, and an estimated 600,000km2 of coral reefs remain worldwide. Nevertheless, a global review of wetland resources prepared for Ramsar COP7 in 1999, while affirming that "it is not possible to provide an acceptable figure of the areal extent of wetlands at a global scale", indicated a 'best' minimum global estimate at between 748 and 778 million hectares. The same report indicated that this "minimum" could be increased to a total of between 999 and 4,462 million hectares when other sources of information were taken into account.

1.3 Why conserve wetlands?

Wetlands are among the world's most productive environments. They are cradles of biological diversity, providing the water and primary productivity upon which countless species of plants and animals depend for survival. They support high concentrations of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrate species. Wetlands are also important storehouses of plant genetic material. Rice, for example, which is a common wetland plant, is the staple diet of more than half of humanity.

Fishing huts at Bevanella canal in the Italian Ramsar Site "Ortazzo e Ortazzino" on the Adriatic coast south of the Po Delta. Photo: Tobias Salathé, Ramsar, 2003.

The multiple roles of wetland ecosystems and their value to humanity have been increasingly understood and documented in recent years. This has led to large expenditures to restore lost or degraded hydrological and biological functions of wetlands. But it's not enough - the race is on to improve practices on a significant global scale as the world's leaders try to cope with the accelerating water crisis and the effects of climate change. And this at a time when the world's population is likely to increase by 70 million every year for the next 20 years.

Global freshwater consumption rose sixfold between 1900 and 1995 - more than double the rate of population growth. One third of the world's population today lives in countries already experiencing moderate to high water stress. By 2025, two out of every three people on Earth may well face life in water stressed conditions.

The ability of wetlands to adapt to changing conditions, and to accelerating rates of change, will be crucial to human communities and wildlife everywhere as the full impact of climate change on our ecosystem lifelines is felt. Small wonder that there is a worldwide focus on wetlands and their services to us.

Policy- and decision-makers frequently make development decisions based upon simple calculations of the monetary pros and cons of the proposals before them - the importance of wetlands for the environment and for human societies has traditionally been under-rated in these calculations because of the difficulty of assigning dollar values to the wetland ecosystem's values and benefits, goods and services. Thus, more and more economists and other scientists are working in the growing field of the valuation of ecosystem services. This is a difficult task, but in order for decision-makers to have the correct information before them about the comparable monetary values of a healthy wetland, the economic losses of a lost or degraded wetland, there is no choice but to progress in this direction. Some recent studies have indicated that ecosystems provide at least US$ 33 trillion worth of services annually, of which about US$ 4.9 trillion are attributed to wetlands.

In addition, wetlands are important, and sometimes essential, for the health, welfare and safety of people who live in or near them. They are amongst the world's most productive environments and provide a wide array of benefits.

a) Functions

The interactions of physical, biological and chemical components of a wetland, such as soils, water, plants and animals, enable the wetland to perform many vital functions, for example:

water storage;
storm protection and flood mitigation;
shoreline stabilization and erosion control;
groundwater recharge (the movement of water from the wetland down into the underground aquifer);
groundwater discharge (the movement of water upward to become surface water in a wetland);
water purification;
retention of nutrients;
retention of sediments;
retention of pollutants;
stabilization of local climate conditions, particularly rainfall and temperature.

b) Values

Wetlands frequently provide tremendous economic benefits, for example:

water supply (quantity and quality);
fisheries (over two thirds of the world's fish harvest is linked to the health of wetland areas);
agriculture, through the maintenance of water tables and nutrient retention in floodplains;
timber and other building materials;
energy resources, such as peat and plant matter;
wildlife resources;
transport;
a wide range of other wetland products, including herbal medicines;
recreation and tourism opportunities.

In addition, wetlands have special attributes as part of the cultural heritage of humanity - they are related to religious and cosmological beliefs and spiritual values, constitute a source of aesthetic and artistic inspiration, yield invaluable archaeological evidence from the remote past, provide wildlife sanctuaries, and form the basis of important local social, economic, and cultural traditions.

In the context of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), published in 2006, ecosystems are described as the complex of living communities (including human communities) and non-living environment (Ecosystem Components) interacting (through Ecological Processes) as a functional unit which provides inter alia a variety of benefits to people (Ecosystem Services).

Included in the term "Ecosystem Services" are provisioning, regulating, and cultural services that directly affect people, and supporting services which are needed to maintain these other services. Further information can be found in the Synthesis Report prepared by the MA for the Ramsar Convention (Finlayson, C.M., D'Cruz, R. & Davidson, N.C. 2005. Wetlands and water: ecosystem services and human well-being. World Resources Institute, Washington D.C). In the context of the Ramsar Convention this refers to products, functions and attributes as defined in Resolution VI.1 and expanded to include both material and non-material cultural values, benefits and functions as outlined in COP8 DOC.15, Cultural aspects of wetlands.

Terms currently used in previous Ramsar guidelines and documents are shown here alongside those used in the MA.

MA Ecosystem terms to apply in Ramsar guidelines and other Convention usages	Relates to terms used in various previous Ramsar guidelines and other documents
Ecosystem Components: physical; chemical; biological (habitats, species, genes)	"components", "features", "attributes", "properties"
Ecological Processes within and between ecosystems	"processes", "interactions", "properties"; "functions"
Ecosystem Services: provisioning; regulating; cultural; supporting	"services", "benefits", "values", "functions", "goods", "products"

These functions, values, and attributes - these "ecosystem services" and "components" - can only be maintained if the ecological processes of wetlands are allowed to continue functioning. Unfortunately, and in spite of important progress made in recent decades, wetlands continue to be among the world's most threatened ecosystems, owing mainly to ongoing drainage, conversion, pollution, and over-exploitation of their resources.

The Convention's 11-sheet information pack on "Wetland Values and Functions" and 10-sheet info pack on "The Cultural Heritage of Wetlands" are available from the Secretariat and on the Ramsar Web site. A thorough interpretation of traditional Ramsar terminology in terms of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is embodied in Annex A to Resolution IX.1 (2005).

1.4 Why an intergovernmental convention on wetlands?

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was developed as a means to call international attention to the rate at which wetland habitats were disappearing, in part due to a lack of understanding of their important functions, values, goods and services. Governments that join the Convention are expressing their willingness to make a commitment to helping to reverse that history of wetland loss and degradation.

In addition, many wetlands are international systems lying across the boundaries of two or more States, or are part of river basins that include more than one State. The health of these and other wetlands is dependent upon the quality and quantity of the transboundary water supply from rivers, streams, lakes, or underground aquifers. The best intentions of countries on either side of those frontiers can be frustrated without a framework for international discussion and cooperation toward mutual benefits.

Human impacts on water sources, such as agricultural, industrial or domestic pollution, may occur at considerable distances from wetland areas, often beyond the borders of the States affected. Where this occurs, wetland habitats can be degraded or even destroyed, and the health and livelihood of local people put at risk.

Many of the wetland fauna, for example some fish species, many waterbirds, insects such as butterflies and dragonflies, and mammals such as otters, are migratory species whose conservation and management also require international cooperation.

In sum, wetlands constitute a resource of great economic, cultural, scientific and recreational value to human life; wetlands and people are ultimately interdependent. As such, the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands needs to be stemmed, and measures must be taken to conserve and make wise use of wetland resources. To achieve this at a global level requires cooperative, intergovernmental action. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands provides the framework for such international, as well as for national and local action.

1.5 Why do nations join the Ramsar Convention?

Membership in the Ramsar Convention:

entails an endorsement of and commitment to the principles that the Convention represents, facilitating the development at national level of policies and actions, including legislation, that help nations to make the best possible use of their wetland resources in their quest for sustainable development;

presents an opportunity for a country to make its voice heard in the principal intergovernmental forum on the conservation and wise use of wetlands;

brings increased publicity and prestige for the wetlands designated for the List of Wetlands of International Importance, and hence increased possibility of support for conservation and wise use measures;

brings access to the latest information and advice on adoption of the Convention's internationally-accepted standards, such as criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance, advice on application of the wise use concept, and guidelines on management planning in wetlands;

brings access to expert advice on national and site-related problems of wetland conservation and management through contacts with Ramsar Secretariat personnel and collaborators and through application of the Ramsar Advisory Mission when appropriate; and

encourages international cooperation on wetland issues and brings the possibility of support for wetland projects, either through the Convention's own small grants assistance programmes or through the Convention's contacts with multilateral and bilateral external support agencies.

According to National Reports submitted by Contracting Parties, the Convention has frequently been instrumental in halting or preventing negative developments affecting wetlands. Some examples include:

modification of the development adjacent to Åkersvika Ramsar site in Norway, leading to greater protection of the site, an increase in its size, and extension of the buffer zone (1992);

replacement of a project for mining heavy metals in the dunes of the St. Lucia Ramsar site in South Africa by environmentally friendly development alternatives (1996);

measures to end illegal agriculture that was having a negative impact in the Nariva Swamp in Trinidad and Tobago, and development of an integrated management plan for the site (1996);

abandonment of plans to construct a garbage dumping site at Fujimae, the last remaining major mudflat system near Nagoya City, Japan, when in 2001 the city government joined the momentum to designate Fujimae as a Ramsar site;

abandonment of plans to build a major new airport including the Cliffe Marshes Ramsar site, part of the Thames Estuary in England, when in December 2003 the UK government concluded that "the internationally important status of some of the habitats . . . mean that any potentially adverse effect would require the government to demonstrate that it had considered all reasonable alternatives. In light of the consultation, the government is satisfied that there would be reasonable alternatives to Cliffe."

Many Contracting Parties have noted that their conservation efforts have been greatly assisted by the inclusion of a wetland site in the Montreux Record of Ramsar sites requiring priority attention (§4.3.5). For example:

The Azraq Oasis in Jordan benefited from being placed on the Montreux Record and from the related Ramsar Advisory Mission (RAM) that was applied, as early as 1990, to study the threats to the wetland and recommend solutions. Its status as a Ramsar site also played an important role in the approval of a significant project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

The Austrian Ramsar Committee noted in 1996 that inclusion of the Donau-March-Auen in the Montreux Record, and application of the Ramsar Advisory Mission in 1991, has been beneficial for the ecological character of the site. A wise use plan has been drawn up, with the close involvement of NGOs, and LIFE funding for management work has been received from the European Commission.

Based on the findings of a first Ramsar Advisory Mission in 1992 to make recommendations concerning negative changes to the ecological character of the Srebarna Nature Reserve in Bulgaria, the Ramsar and World Heritage site was placed on the Montreux Record and the authorities undertook to carry out the recommendations. The Ramsar Small Grants Fund provided the means for the development of a management plan for the site, and a second RAM, conducted jointly with IUCN and the World Heritage Convention in October 2001, observed "a stable and sustained trend towards improvement of the ecological character", concluding that "Bulgaria has demonstrated the determination, legislative framework, scientific and management capacity and public support to achieve and maintain" the wetland's values. The mission recommended that, following the provision of additional information, the authorities should begin the procedure for removing Srebarna from the Montreux Record and the List of World Heritage in Danger.

The Chilika Development Authority, Chilika Lake, India, was a winner of the Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award in 2002 for its innovative management and community participation efforts. Photo: Ramsar / Najam Khurshid.

Chilika Lake, the largest lagoon on the east coast of India, was designated as a Ramsar site in 1981. Because of serious degradation brought about mainly by siltation and choking of the seawater inlet channel, resulting in the proliferation of invasive freshwater species, a decrease in fish productivity, and an overall loss of biodiversity, Chilika was added to the Montreux Record in 1993. Created in 1992 to address these problems, the Chilika Development Authority has implemented a bold programme of action to restore the ecosystem and improve the socio-economic conditions of the local communities. The restoration of Chilika lagoon was marked by the strong participation by the communities, linkage with various national and international institutions, and intensive monitoring and assessment systems. In 2001, a Ramsar Advisory Mission visited the site and concluded that it should be removed from the Montreux Record, provided that the management measures are continued and monitored. The case is a good example of how the listing of a site on the Montreux Record can be used to promote measures to correct change in ecological character and to improve the socio-economic conditions of the population living in and around the site. The Chilika Development Authority won the Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award in 2002 for its innovative efforts.

Wetlands need not be of international importance for the Ramsar Convention to play a part in their conservation and wise use. The very fact that a State is a Contracting Party to the Convention can be used to establish the necessary legislative and management framework to ensure the long-term productivity and effective environmental functions of all its wetlands.

1.6 Who may join the Ramsar Convention?

According to Article 9.2 of the Convention on Wetlands, "Any member of the United Nations or of one of the Specialized Agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency or Party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice may become a Party to this Convention". Unfortunately, supranational bodies, such as the European Community, are thus not eligible to join the Convention, but may nevertheless develop bilateral working agreements with the Convention secretariat.

No state is too small to join as long as it can designate a wetland which meets one or more of the Criteria for Identifying Wetlands of International Importance (§4.3.1) adopted by the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention.

1.7 What are the commitments of Parties joining the Ramsar Convention?

Because wetlands are important for maintaining key ecological processes, for their rich flora and fauna, and for the benefits that they provide to local communities and to human society in general, the broad objectives of the Convention are to ensure their conservation and wise use. States that join the Convention accept four main commitments, which are:

1.7.1 Listed sites (Article 2 of the Convention. See Appendix 1)

The first obligation under the Convention is for a Party to designate at least one wetland at the time of accession for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance (the "Ramsar List") (Article 2.4) and to promote its conservation, and in addition to continue to "designate suitable wetlands within its territory" for the List (Article 2.1). Selection for the Ramsar List should be based on the wetland's significance in terms of ecology, botany, zoology, limnology, or hydrology. The Contracting Parties have developed specific criteria and guidelines for identifying sites that qualify for inclusion in the Ramsar List.

In Article 3.2 (§4.3.7), the Parties have committed themselves "to arrange to be informed at the earliest possible time if the ecological character of any wetland in its territory and included in the List has changed, is changing or is likely to change as the result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference. Information on such changes shall be passed without delay" to the Ramsar Secretariat.

1.7.2 Wise use (Article 3 of the Convention)

Under the Convention there is a general obligation for the Contracting Parties to include wetland conservation considerations in their national land-use planning. They have committed themselves to formulate and implement this planning so as to promote, as far as possible, "the wise use of wetlands in their territory" (Article 3.1 of the treaty).

The Conference of the Contracting Parties has approved guidelines on how to achieve "wise use", which has been interpreted as being synonymous with "sustainable use" (§4.2). The COP has also adopted detailed guidance on the development of National Wetland Policies and on management planning for individual wetland sites.

1.7.3 Reserves and training (Article 4 of the Convention)

Contracting Parties have also undertaken to establish nature reserves in wetlands, whether or not they are included in the Ramsar List, and they are also expected to promote training in the fields of wetland research, management and wardening.

1.7.4 International cooperation (Article 5 of the Convention)

Contracting Parties have also agreed to consult with other Contracting Parties about implementation of the Convention, especially in regard to transboundary wetlands, shared water systems, and shared species.

1.7.5 Compliance with the commitments

The Ramsar Convention is not a regulatory regime and has no punitive sanctions for violations of or defaulting upon treaty commitments - nevertheless, its terms do constitute a solemn treaty and are binding in international law in that sense. The whole edifice is based upon an expectation of common and equitably shared transparent accountability. Failure to live up to that expectation could lead to political and diplomatic discomfort in high-profile international fora or the media, and would prevent any Party concerned from getting the most, more generally, out of what would otherwise be a robust and coherent system of checks and balances and mutual support frameworks. Failure to meet the treaty's commitments may also impact upon success in other ways, for example, in efforts to secure international funding for wetland conservation. In addition, some national jurisdictions now embody international Ramsar obligations in national law and/or policy with direct effect in their own court systems.

1.8 Further interpretation of the commitments

Over the years, the Conference of the Contracting Parties has interpreted and elaborated upon these four major obligations included within the text of the treaty, and it has developed guidelines for assisting the Parties in their implementation. These guidelines are published in the Ramsar Handbook series and on the Ramsar Web site.

Although Resolutions do not have the same legal force as commitments specified in the convention text itself, the Contracting Parties further spelt out their interpretation of their responsibilities in Resolution 5.1 (1993) of the Conference of the Parties (Framework for the implementation of the Ramsar Convention), as follows:

a) Conservation of wetlands

to designate wetlands for the List of Wetlands of International Importance;
to formulate and implement planning so as to promote conservation of listed sites;
to advise the Secretariat of any change in the ecological character of listed sites;
to compensate for any loss of wetland resources if a listed wetland is deleted or restricted;
to use Ramsar criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance;
to use the Ramsar datasheet and classification system for describing listed sites;
to consider appropriate management measures after designation and, where appropriate, to use the Montreux Record and [Ramsar Advisory Mission mechanisms];
to formulate and implement planning so as to promote the wise use of wetlands;
to adopt and apply the Guidelines for Implementation of the Wise Use Concept, notably as regards elaboration and implementation of national wetland policies, and the Additional Guidance on Wise Use;
to make environmental impact assessments before transformations of wetlands;
to establish nature reserves on wetlands and provide adequately for their wardening;
to increase waterfowl populations through management of appropriate wetlands;
to make national wetland inventories which will identify major sites for wetland biodiversity;
to train personnel competent in wetland research, management, and wardening.

b) Promotion of international cooperation in wetland conservation

to promote conservation of wetlands by combining far-sighted national policies with coordinated international action;
to consult with other Contracting Parties about implementing obligations arising from the Convention, especially concerning shared wetlands and water systems and shared species;
to promote wetland conservation concerns with development aid agencies;
to establish wetland restoration projects.

c) Fostering communication about wetland conservation

to encourage research and exchange of data;
to produce national reports for Conferences of the Parties;
to increase the number of Contracting Parties.

d) Supporting the work of the Convention

to convene and attend Conferences of the Parties;
to adopt the Paris Protocol and Regina Amendments;
to make financial contributions to the Convention budget and to the Ramsar Small Grants Fund.

1.9 Reporting

One extremely important part of the Parties' responsibilities, suggested in the text and subsequently confirmed by COP decisions, has to do with reporting on the implementation of the Convention within their territories. The Parties report on their progress in meeting their commitments under the Convention by submitting triennial National Reports (§3.1) to the Conference of the Contracting Parties - these are prepared following a format adopted by the Parties which follows the Strategic Plan of the Convention, and they become part of the public record. In addition, under Article 3.2 of the treaty (§4.3.7), Parties are expected to report to the Secretariat any changes or threats to the ecological character of their listed wetlands and to respond to the Secretariat's inquiries about such reports received from third parties.

1.10 The Ramsar Convention today

As of December 2006, there are 153 Contracting Parties, or member States, in all parts of the world. More than 1,634 wetlands have been designated for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance, covering 145 million hectares (1.45 million square kilometres), larger than the surface area of France, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland combined.

Representatives of the Contracting Parties convene at least every three years in meetings of the "Conference of the Contracting Parties", or COP (§3.1), to discuss the implementation of the Convention and its further development, to consider national experiences, to review the status of sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance, to adopt technical and policy guidance for the Parties on matters affecting the wetlands in their territories, to promote cooperative activities, to receive reports from international organizations, and to adopt the budget for the Convention secretariat for the ensuing three years.

The Convention is administered by a secretariat (§3.3), an independent body hosted by IUCN-The World Conservation Union under the authority of the Ramsar Standing Committee. Its headquarters are located in Gland, Switzerland.

1.11 The Ramsar Strategic Plan and the "three pillars" of the Convention

The 6th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP6), held in Brisbane, Australia, in 1996, adopted an innovative Strategic Plan 1997-2002 which became a model for the planning processes of other conventions. Following on from the success of that plan, COP8, in Valencia, Spain, 2002, concluded three years of consultation and drafting by adopting the Strategic Plan 2003-2008. Its purpose is not only to continue the thrust of the first plan but also to take account of the fact that a still broader approach to wetland conservation and sustainable development was needed, notably in relation to poverty reduction and food and water security, integrated approaches to water management, climate change and its predicted impacts, increasing globalization of trade and reducing of trade barriers, the increasing role of the private sector, and the increasing influence of development banks and international development agencies.

In the second Strategic Plan, Contracting Parties seek to deliver their commitments to wetland conservation and wise use through "three pillars" of action. These are:

a) working towards the wise use of their wetlands through a wide range of actions and processes contributing to human well-being (including poverty reduction and water and food security) through sustainable wetlands, water allocation, and river basin management, including establishing national wetland policies and plans; reviewing and harmonizing the framework of laws and financial instruments affecting wetlands; undertaking inventory and assessment; integrating wetlands into the sustainable development process; ensuring public participation in wetland management and the maintenance of cultural values by local communities and indigenous people; promoting communication, education and public awareness; increasing private sector involvement; and harmonizing implementation of the Ramsar Convention with other multilateral environmental agreements;

b) devoting particular attention to the further identification, designation and management of a coherent and comprehensive suite of sites for the List of Wetlands of International Importance (the Ramsar List) as a contribution to the establishment of a global ecological network, and ensuring the effective monitoring and management of those sites included in the List; and

c) cooperating internationally in their delivery of wetland conservation and wise use, through the management of transboundary water resources and wetlands and shared wetland species, collaboration with other conventions and international organizations, sharing of information and expertise, and increasing the flow of financial resources and relevant technologies to developing countries and countries in transition.

Each of these "three pillars" is addressed by a General Objective of the Strategic Plan. Two further General Objectives provide the means to undertake effective implementation of the objectives related to the three pillars of the Convention. The five General Objectives give structure to a total of 21 Operational Objectives, covering the following subject areas:

1. Inventory and assessment
2. Policies and legislation, including impact assessment and valuation
3. Integration of wetland wise use into sustainable development
4. Restoration and rehabilitation
5. Invasive alien species
6. Local communities, indigenous people, and cultural values
7. Private sector involvement
8. Incentives
9. Communication, education, and public awareness
10. Designation of Ramsar sites
11. Management planning and monitoring of Ramsar sites
12. Management of shared water resources, wetlands and wetland species
13. Collaboration with other institutions
14. Sharing of expertise and information
15. Financing the conservation and wise use of wetlands
16. Financing of the Convention
17. Institutional mechanisms of the Convention
18. Institutional capacity of Contracting Parties
19. International Organization Partners and others
20. Training
21. Membership of the Convention

The Strategic Plan 2003-2008 is available in English, French, and Spanish on the Ramsar Web site and can be obtained in hard copy or CD-ROM from the Ramsar Secretariat.

1.12 Synergies with other environment-related conventions

The benefits of coordination and collaboration amongst conventions and international organizations with related or overlapping missions have been widely recognized for some time. The Ramsar Secretariat has devoted a great deal of effort to developing synergies with other environment-related instruments, and continues to do so. In some cases, follow-up assessments of the tangible progress of these relationships have shown that the initiative has been well worth it to all parties concerned. Similarly, the Secretariat has been taking vigorous steps to encourage Ramsar's "Administrative Authorities" (national focal points, §3.4) to build close working relationships with their counterparts for the other conventions at national level. (Synergies with other organizations and institutions besides the conventions can be found in §3.9.)

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

In January 1996, the secretariats of the Ramsar Convention and the CBD signed a first Memorandum of Cooperation, and in November of that year, the CBD's COP3 invited Ramsar "to cooperate as a lead partner" in implementing CBD activities related to wetlands. Accordingly a Joint Work Plan 1998-1999 between the two conventions was developed and implemented, and then a second Joint Work Plan was successfully carried out for the period 2000-2001 - presently a third Joint Work Plan, for the period 2002-2006, endorsed by the 6th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity, April 2002, and by Ramsar COP8 in November 2002, is continuing to provide a blueprint for mutual cooperation between the conventions, and a fourth JWP, for 2007 onwards, is in preparation. The Conferences of the Parties of both conventions have also called for increased communication and cooperation between their subsidiary scientific bodies, the CBD's Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) and the Ramsar Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP, §3.5), and members of both of these bodies regularly participate in the work and meetings of one another.

The Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)

The Ramsar Secretariat and the CMS Secretariat first signed a Memorandum of Understanding in February 1997. It seeks to ensure cooperation between the two secretariats in the fields of joint promotion of the two conventions; joint conservation action; data collection, storage and analysis; and new agreements on migratory species, including endangered migratory species and species with an unfavorable conservation status. Some concrete results of this relationship have already been observed, particularly with regards to coordinated work between Ramsar and the CMS's African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA). A three-way joint work plan between the secretariats of the CMS, AEWA, and the Ramsar Convention was signed in April 2004.

UNESCO World Heritage Convention

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ramsar Secretariat and the World Heritage Centre in May 1999. The Ramsar Secretariat and the World Heritage officer in charge of natural sites maintain a close working relationship with a view to:

promoting nominations of wetland sites under the two conventions;
reviewing reporting formats and coordinating the reporting about shared sites;
contributing to both conventions' training efforts;
coordinating fundraising initiatives concerning shared sites;
and encouraging the establishment of joint national committees.

In particular, World Heritage and Ramsar have worked extraordinarily closely on joint expert advisory missions in recent years to Ichkeul in Tunisia, to Djoudj and Diawling in Senegal and Mauritania, and to Lake Srebarna in Bulgaria.

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

Wetlands are crucially important everywhere, and even more so in arid lands. Thus the Ramsar Secretariat was present at the first UNCCD Conference of the Parties in October 1997, where it distributed to the delegates an information document on "Wetlands in Arid Zones". In December 1998, during the second UNCCD Conference of the Parties in Dakar, the Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention and the Executive Secretary of the CCD signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the secretariats to help to increase communication between them, coordinate efforts, and avoid duplication. Practical cooperation between the secretariats has been developing only slowly so far, however.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

In preparation for UNFCCC COP5, the Ramsar Secretariat commissioned IUCN to prepare a technical document entitled Wetlands and Climate Change: exploring collaboration between the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The paper was translated into the six UN official languages and distributed to the UNFCCC's Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and to delegates to its COP5.

As a result SBSTA "requested the secretariat [of UNFCCC] to liaise with the secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands on the specific issues identified in the oral report delivered by the representative of that secretariat in order to determine how cooperation between the conventions could be strengthened. The SBSTA requested the secretariat to report back to it on this matter at its twelfth session." The Ramsar Secretariat is working with the UNFCCC secretariat to prepare an official document for submission to SBSTA and to an upcoming UNFCCC Conference of the Parties. In Resolution VIII.3 (2002), the Conference of the Parties requested the Ramsar STRP to work further with the UNFCCC and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the relationships between wetlands and climate change.

Regional conventions and basin commissions

The Ramsar Secretariat has also effected Memoranda of Cooperation with UNEP's Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention), first signed in May 2000 and a new version concluded in June 2005, and with the Coordinating Unit of the Mediterranean Action Plan of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention), first signed in February 2001, with a newly-agreed MoC signed in February 2006. An MOC was signed with the Convention on the protection and sustainable development of the Carpathians (Carpathian Convention) in December 2006. The Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is a partner with the Ramsar Convention under a Joint Work Plan that began in 2002 and now includes the basing at SPREP offices in Samoa of a Ramsar Officer for the Oceania region, and the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) cooperates under the terms of an agreement first signed in November 2000. Furthermore, the Ramsar Convention is closely involved in the work of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and the Niger Basin Authority, with both of which the Ramsar Secretariat has memoranda of cooperation signed in November 2002, and a new agreement has been concluded with the Commission Internationale du Bassin Congo-Ougangui-Sang (CICOS) in March 2006.

Other close relationships with official bodies

In addition, Ramsar works closely with the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme under the terms of a joint programme of work first agreed in 2002, and has a new cooperative agreement, February 2006, with the European Environment Agency. An agreement was signed with the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) in June 2006, and the Secretariat has been working very closely with the European Space Agency on its GlobWetland project, which is developing monitoring and management tools based on earth observation data in a pilot project involving fifty Ramsar sites around the world. A great deal of collaboration has occurred recently between Ramsar and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and cooperative agreements are under discussion with both FAO and UNITAR.

Coordination among conventions

The Ramsar Secretariat participates in the conventions' coordinating meetings organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and has welcomed the tendency of these meetings to focus less on purely administrative matters and more upon substantive coordination issues. The Ramsar Secretariat has contributed staff time and financial resources to joint working groups and studies aimed at harmonizing the requirements of the biodiversity-related conventions, as for example a study carried out by the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) on the feasibility of harmonizing reporting requirements under the different instruments, and participates in UNEP's Environmental Management Group (EMG).

A decision by the UNFCCC's COP8 (2002) invited the Ramsar Convention to participate in the work of the Joint Liaison Group (JLG) of the "Rio Conventions", UNFCCC, the CBD, and UNCCD. In addition, the five biodiversity-related conventions - the CBD, CITES, CMS, Ramsar, and World Heritage - have a Joint Web site hosted by the CBD secretariat, initiated in March 1999, and the Ramsar Convention participates actively as a full member of the Biodiversity Liaison Group (BLG), which is composed of those five conventions.

2. A brief history of the Ramsar Convention

2.1 Background

The initial call for an international convention on wetlands came in 1962 during a conference which formed part of Project MAR (from "MARshes", "MARécages", "MARismas"), a programme established in 1960 following concern at the rapidity with which large stretches of marshland and other wetlands in Europe were being "reclaimed" or otherwise destroyed, with a resulting decline in numbers of waterfowl.

The MAR Conference was organized by Dr Luc Hoffmann, with the participation of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (now IUCN-The World Conservation Union), the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau, IWRB (now Wetlands International), and the International Council for Bird Preservation, ICBP (now BirdLife International), and was held in Les Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer in the French Camargue, 12-16 November 1962.

Over the next eight years, a convention text was negotiated through a series of international technical meetings (St. Andrews, 1963; Noordwijk, 1966; Leningrad, 1968; Morges, 1968; Vienna, 1969; Moscow, 1969; Espoo, 1970), held mainly under the auspices of IWRB, the guidance of Prof. G.V.T. Matthews, and the leadership of the Government of the Netherlands. Initially the envisaged convention was directed specifically at the conservation of waterfowl through the creation of a network of refuges, but as the text developed, especially with the expert advice of legal consultant Mr Cyrille de Klemm, conservation of wetland habitat (rather than species) took prominence.

Finally, at an international meeting organized by Mr Eskander Firouz, Director of Iran's Game and Fish Department, and held in the Caspian seaside resort of Ramsar in Iran, the text of the Convention was agreed on 2 February 1971 and signed by the delegates of 18 nations the next day.

The Convention entered into force in December 1975, upon receipt by UNESCO, the Convention Depositary, of the seventh instrument of accession to or ratification of the Convention, which came from Greece. The Convention celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2006 and now has Contracting Parties from all regions of the world.

Since its adoption, the Ramsar Convention has been modified on two occasions: by a protocol (a new treaty which amends the original treaty) in December 1982, and by a series of amendments to the original treaty, known as the "Regina Amendments" of 1987.

2.2 The Paris Protocol and the Regina Amendments

The Paris Protocol was adopted at an Extraordinary Conference of the Contracting Parties which was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in December 1982. The Protocol, which came into force in 1986, established a procedure for amending the Convention (Article 10 bis) and adopted official versions of the treaty in Arabic, French, English, German, Russian and Spanish. Almost all Contracting Parties have now accepted the Paris Protocol, and new Contracting Parties normally join the Ramsar Convention as amended by the Paris Protocol and the Regina Amendments (Appendix 1).

The Regina Amendments are a series of amendments to Articles 6 and 7 that were accepted at an Extraordinary Conference of the Contracting Parties (§3.1) held in Regina, Canada, in 1987. These did not affect the basic substantive principles of the Convention, but related to its operation - briefly, the amendments defined the powers of the Conference of the Parties, established an intersessional Standing Committee, and established both a permanent secretariat and a budget for the Convention. These amendments came into force on 1 May 1994, although the Parties, in the spirit of Resolution 3.4 from the 1987 meeting, observed the provisions of the amendments on a voluntary basis throughout the interim period.

2.3 A Ramsar chronology - key events

2 February 1971
The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat is agreed by representatives of 18 nations meeting in the Iranian town of Ramsar, and signed the following day.

January 1974
Australia becomes the first State to deposit an instrument of accession to the Convention.

December 1974
An International Conference on the Conservation of Wetlands and Waterfowl is held in Heiligenhafen, Germany, and adopts the first "Criteria to be used in identifying Wetlands of International Importance" as a recommendation; the conference was intended to be the first meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, but an insufficient number of countries had ratified the Convention to bring it into force in time.

21 December 1975
The Ramsar Convention comes into force four months after the seventh nation, Greece, deposits an instrument of accession. (The first six were Australia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, South Africa, and Iran.)

August 1979
Contracting Parties are invited to prepare the first National Reports on the implementation of the Convention in their territories, for presentation to the First Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties.

November 1980
First Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Cagliari, Italy:

adopts new criteria for identifying wetlands suitable for designation to the List of Wetlands of International Importance;
approves the elaboration of a protocol (later to become the Paris Protocol) to amend the treaty.

December 1982
A Protocol modifying the original text of the Ramsar Convention is adopted by an Extraordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties at the headquarters of UNESCO in Paris.

May 1984
Second Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Groningen, Netherlands:

establishes the framework for implementing the Convention, a list of agreed commitments, and priorities for the next triennium.

October 1986
Paris Protocol enters into force (after acceptance by two-thirds of Contracting Parties in 1982).

May-June 1987
Extraordinary Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties adopts the Regina Amendments to Articles 6 and 7 of the Convention.

Third (ordinary) Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Regina, Canada:

adopts revised criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance;
adopts guidelines for the implementation of the wise use of wetlands concept;
establishes the Standing Committee, which meets for the first time;
approves the establishment of the Ramsar "Bureau" (or secretariat) in two units, one within IUCN headquarters in Gland, Switzerland, and one within IWRB headquarters in Slimbridge, UK;
establishes formal scientific and technical links with IUCN and IWRB;
establishes a Wise Use Working Group.

January 1988
The Ramsar Secretariat (called the "Bureau") is formally established as the Convention's permanent secretariat, with Mr Dan Navid (USA) as the first Secretary General.

The Ramsar Advisory Mission (then called the 'Monitoring Procedure', and later the 'Management Guidance Procedure') is established by the Ramsar Standing Committee at its fourth meeting in Costa Rica.

1989
Adoption of the first Ramsar logo (a soaring blue bird of unknown species, trailed by splashes of pastel blue and green)

January 1989
Viet Nam becomes 50th Contracting Party to the Convention.

August 1989
Ramsar publishes its first book, A Legal Analysis of the Adoption of the Implementation of the Convention in Denmark, by Veit Koester (in the IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Papers series).

July 1990
Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Montreux, Switzerland:

approves the framework for the implementation of the Convention;
develops and adopts revised criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance;
expands the guidelines for the implementation of the wise use concept;
consolidates the Ramsar Secretariat into a single unit within IUCN headquarters in Gland, Switzerland;
continues to charge IWRB with responsibility for maintaining the Ramsar Database of Listed Sites;
formalizes the Management Guidance Procedure;
establishes the Montreux Record (though not formally known by this name until June 1993);
establishes the Wetland Conservation Fund (later renamed "the Ramsar Small Grants Fund for Wetland Conservation and Wise Use");
adopts Spanish as the third working language of the Convention, alongside English and French.

December 1991
First Ramsar Regional Meeting (Asia) takes place, Karachi, Pakistan.

June 1993
Fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Kushiro, Japan:

adopts the Kushiro Statement as the basis for the Contracting Parties' priorities for the coming triennium;
establishes the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP);
adopts additional guidance for the implementation of the wise use of wetlands concept;
adopts management planning guidelines for wetland sites.

June 1993
Publication of The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: Its History and Development, by G.V.T. Matthews.

October 1993
Publication of Towards the Wise Use of Wetlands, the report of the Wise Use Project.

December 1993
Lithuania becomes 80th Contracting Party to the Convention.

January 1994
First meeting of the STRP takes place in association with the IUCN General Assembly in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

May 1994
Regina Amendments to Articles 6 and 7 of the Convention enter into force.

December 1994
Mr James McCuaig, seconded from Environment Canada, serves for six months as Interim Secretary General, replacing Mr Dan Navid.

August 1995
Mr Delmar Blasco (Argentina) becomes the Convention's second Secretary General.

January 1996
Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the secretariats of the Ramsar Convention and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the first of many memoranda between the Ramsar Secretariat and the secretariats of other Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs). In subsequent years, Joint Work Plans are developed to increase synergies between the two conventions.

February 1996
The Ramsar Convention's Web site is inaugurated.

March 1996
Sixth Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Brisbane, Australia:

adopts the Strategic Plan 1997-2002;
adopts criteria based on fish for identifying wetlands of international importance;
adopts working definitions of ecological character and guidelines for describing and maintaining the ecological character of listed sites;
adopts a resolution on Ramsar and water.

October 1996
The Standing Committee formally establishes 2 February as World Wetlands Day.

The Mediterranean Wetlands Committee (MedWet/Com) is established as the first regional arrangement under the Convention.

February 1997
Bahamas and Georgia both accede to the Convention on 7 February, becoming the 99th and 100th Contracting Parties.

2 February 1997
The first World Wetlands Day is celebrated in about 50 nations and becomes an annual event.

May 1997
The Ramsar Forum, a public e-mail discussion group for Ramsar-related issues, is established by the Secretariat.

The Ramsar Secretariat's Internship Programme begins with the arrival of the first group of four assistants to the Senior Regional Advisors (then called "Regional Coordinators").

Ramsar publishes The Economic Valuation of Wetlands in English, French, and Spanish.

October 1997
First three-year phase of the Wetlands for the Future initiative begins by agreement between the Ramsar Secretariat, the United States State Department, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service; later renewed.

December 1997
Wetlands, Biodiversity and the Ramsar Convention: the role of the Convention on Wetlands in the conservation and wise use of wetlands, edited by A.J. Hails, is published by the Ramsar Secretariat.

January 1998
The Evian Project, to assist communications and training activities under the Convention, is established by an agreement signed among the Ramsar Secretariat, the Groupe Danone from the private sector, the French GEF, and the Government of France.

October 1998
The Standing Committee adopts the new Ramsar logo (the word Ramsar on a blue-green background with two white lines suggesting waves).

May 1999
Seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, San José, Costa Rica:

adopts a "toolkit" of guidelines on National Wetland Policies, reviewing laws and institutions, river basin management, education and public awareness, international cooperation, and more;
adopts a Strategic Framework for the development of the Ramsar List;
revises the system of regional representation under the Convention and reconstitutes the membership of the Standing Committee and STRP;
confers the first Wetland Conservation Awards upon five recipients;
formally confirms BirdLife International, IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Wetlands International, and the World Wide Fund for Nature as 'International Organization Partners' of the Convention.

July 1999
Honduras designates the Sistema de Humedales de la Zona Sur de Honduras, the Convention's 1000th Ramsar site.

September 1999
The Society of Wetland Scientists inaugurates its annual Ramsar Support Framework grants programme; the programme runs until 2004.

May 2000
The "Ramsar Toolkit" (the Ramsar Handbooks for the Wise Use of Wetlands) is published in nine booklets in a boxed set. A CD-ROM version is published by the United Nations University in September 2002.

February 2001
Inauguration of a joint Web site between Ramsar and UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme. A Programme of Joint Work is agreed between the two secretariats in March 2002.

November 2001
The MedWet Coordination Unit (later renamed the MedWet Secretariat) is opened in Athens, Greece, a 5-member outposted branch of the Ramsar Secretariat, headed by new MedWet Coordinator Spyros Kouvelis and funded by the Government of Greece and members of the MedWet Committee.

June 2002
Surface area coverage of the world's Wetlands of International Importance surpasses 100 million hectares with the designation of Peru's Abanica del río Pastazo.

November 2002
Eighth Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Valencia, Spain:

adopts further guidance for the Parties, covering allocation and management of water, site management planning, integrated coastal zone management, wetland inventory, under-represented wetland types, wetland restoration, peatlands;
adopts a new Strategic Plan for the period 2003-2008;
adopts a new modus operandi for the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP);
adopts a Communications, Education, and Public Awareness (CEPA) programme for 2003-2008, as a successor to the Outreach Programme 1999-2002;
confers the second set of Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award to three organizations.

August 2003
Dr Peter Bridgewater (Australia) takes over as the Convention's third Secretary General, succeeding Delmar Blasco.

October 2005
Thirty-eight Ramsar sites are added to the List by Finland, which brings the total number to past the 1,500 mark.

November 2005
Ninth meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Kampala, Uganda:

adopts further guidance for the Parties, covering groundwater management, river basin management, and rapid assessment of wetland biodiversity;
adopts frameworks for understanding relationships among existing guidance on wise use, water-related issues, and wetland inventory, assessment, and monitoring;
establishes a Management Working Group, an STRP Oversight Panel, and a CEPA Oversight Panel as functions of the Standing Committee;
endorses eight regional initiatives within the framework of the Convention and authorizes financial assistance for five of them;
adopts a new modus operandi for the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP);
adopts topical Resolutions on fisheries resources, poverty reduction, and avian influenza;
endorses a fifth member of the Convention's International Organization Partners; and
confers the third set of Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award to four recipients.

December 2005
Barbados joins the Convention as its 150th Contracting Party.

August-September 2006
Launch of both the Ramsar Technical Reports series and the 3rd edition of the Ramsar Handbooks for the Wise Use of Wetlands, now grown to 17 volumes.

2.4 Further reading

Two Ramsar publications (§4.5.7) provide a detailed background to the Ramsar Convention's historical and legal development up to 1993:

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: Its History and Development, by G.V.T. Matthews, 1993; and

The Legal Development of the Ramsar Convention, by C. de Klemm and I. Créteaux, 1993.

Additional background resources:

Clare Shine and Cyrille de Klemm, Wetlands, Water and the Law. Gland: IUCN and Bonn: IUCN Environmental Law Centre, 1999.

Michael Bowman, "The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: Has it Made a Difference?", in Yearbook of International Co-operation on Environment and Development 2002/2003 (London: Earthscan), 61-8. [reprinted http://ramsar.org/key_law_bowman2.htm]

3. How does the Ramsar Convention work?

The implementation of the Ramsar Convention is a continuing partnership between the Contracting Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Convention Secretariat, with the advice of the subsidiary expert body, the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), and the support of the International Organization Partners (IOPs). Every three years, representatives of the Contracting Parties meet as the Conference of the Contracting Parties, the policy-making organ of the Convention which adopts decisions (Resolutions and Recommendations) to administer the work of the Convention and improve the way in which the Parties are able to implement its objectives.

The Framework for Implementation of the Ramsar Convention, first adopted at the 1984 Conference of the Parties (Recommendation 2.3), set out both the long-term commitments and the priorities for the attention of the Contracting Parties to the Convention - subsequent meetings of the Conference have updated the Framework in light of decisions of the COP, and, within this framework, priority objectives have been agreed for the Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Secretariat for each coming triennium. Since 1996, this has been done instead by means of a Strategic Plan and associated Work Plan which set out, in the context of the priority objectives, the actions expected or requested of the Parties, the Standing Committee, the Secretariat, the STRP, the IOPs, and other collaborators. The Convention is presently operating under its second Strategic Plan, for the period 2003-2008.

3.1 The Conference of the Contracting Parties

The Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP) is the policy-making organ of the Convention. Government representatives from each of the Contracting Parties meet every three years to receive national reports on the preceding triennium, approve the work programme and budgetary arrangements for the next three years, and consider guidance for the Parties on a range of ongoing and emerging environmentalissues. (Articles 6 and 7 of the Convention set out the duties of the Conference (see Appendix 1)).

Representatives of non-member States, intergovernmental institutions, and national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may participate in these meetings as non-voting observers. There is a procedure stipulated in the treaty and the "Rules of Procedure" for voting by the Parties, but in fact there has not yet been a vote on any substantive decision and all decisions have in the end been made by consensus.

The 9th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, Kampala, Uganda, 2005. Photo: D. Peck, Ramsar.

The programme of each meeting of the COP includes a number of technical sessions which analyze ongoing and emerging issues of importance in the field of wetland conservation and wise use, including further interpretation and development of the key Convention concepts and guidance for the Parties on key areas of implementation. The technical sessions submit reports to the plenary session, which normally lead to the adoption of Resolutions and Recommendations. Ramsar COPs have gained the reputation of being highly effective events, allowing an active involvement and participation of the non-governmental and academic communities.

The Proceedings of each meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties are published subsequently by the Convention Secretariat, most recently on CD-ROM. Normally, the Proceedings contain:

a summary report of Plenary Sessions;
the Resolutions and Recommendations adopted by the Conference;
a list of the participants; and
(beginning with COP8) the National Reports from the Parties; and
other documentation provided to the COP for consideration or information.

The Proceedings of all of the meetings of the Conference of the Parties have also been published on the Ramsar Web site, with additional materials, including photographs, for recent meetings.

National Reports and the 'National Planning Tool'

Recommendation 2.1 (1984) urged Parties to submit detailed National Reports (NRs) to the Secretariat at least six months before each ordinary meeting of the Conference, and this tradition has continued unbroken to this day. The Ramsar Convention enjoys the highest percentage of NRs received of all the environment-related conventions - of 113 Parties at the time of COP7 in 1999, 107 NRs (97%) were received and 3 newly-acceded Parties were exempted; of 133 Parties at the time of COP8 in 2002, 119 NRs (95%) were received and 8 Parties that had recently joined the Convention were exempted. For COP9 in 2005, with 146 Contracting Parties at the time, of which 5 had newly joined and were exempted, 118 NRs (84%) were received in time for discussion at the COP, and a few more after it!

The National Reports are submitted in one of the three official languages and become part of the public record. They are studied and summarized by the Ramsar Secretariat in the form of regional overviews, which are submitted to the COP as official working documents. The texts of the National Reports themselves are published on the Ramsar Web site, and their contents are analyzed into a database which allows the production of statistical reports on the implementation of the Convention over a wide range of variables.

National Reports provide:

a valuable overview of national experiences;
continuous monitoring of the implementation of the Convention;
a means of sharing information relating to wetland conservation measures that have been taken, any problems that may have arisen, and appropriate solutions to such problems.

National Reports on implementation of the Convention are structured according to the current Strategic Plan and seek information on each Party's success in progressing the Operational Objectives and their respective Actions called for in that Plan. Each triennium, the Standing Committee adopts a "National Planning Tool / National Report Format" to be distributed to the Parties well in advance of each meeting of the COP - the purpose of this document is not only to facilitate reporting on past achievements but perhaps more importantly to assist the Parties in structuring their activities within the framework of the Strategic Plan. When the National Planning Tool is being used as foreseen by the COP, triennial national reporting becomes much less burdensome for the Parties, requiring only a "snapshot" in time of their ongoing work.

Ordinary meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties

1. Cagliari, Italy, 1980
2. Groningen, Netherlands, 1984
3. Regina, Canada, 1987
4. Montreux, Switzerland, 1990
5. Kushiro, Japan, 1993
6. Brisbane, Australia, 1996
7. San José, Costa Rica, 1999
8. Valencia, Spain, 2002
9. Kampala, Uganda, 2005
10. Changwon, Republic of Korea (scheduled for 2008)

Extraordinary meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties

1. Paris, France, 1982
2. Regina, Canada, 1987

3.2 The Standing Committee

The Standing Committee of the Ramsar Convention is the intersessional executive body which represents the COP between its triennial meetings, within the framework of the decisions made by the COP. The Contracting Parties that are members of the SC are elected by each meeting of the COP to serve for the three years until the next one. The SC was established by Resolution 3.3 of the 1987 Conference of the Contracting Parties. Its tasks were first set out in the Framework for Implementation of the Ramsar Convention (Resolution 5.1, 1993), but are presently defined by Resolution VII.1 (1999):

"The Contracting Parties that have accepted to be elected as Regional Representatives on the Standing Committee shall have the following tasks:

To designate their delegates to the Standing Committee taking into account their significant responsibilities as Regional Representatives, according to paragraph 10 of this resolution, and to make every effort that their delegates or their substitutes attend all meetings of the Committee.
When there is more than one Regional Representative in a regional group, to maintain regular contacts and consultations with the other regional representative(s).
To maintain regular contacts and consultations with the Contracting Parties in their regional group, and to use the opportunities of travel within their regions and of attending regional or international meetings to consult about issues related to the Convention and to promote its objectives.
To canvass the opinions of the Contracting Parties in their regional group before meetings of the Standing Committee.
To advise the Secretariat in setting the agenda of regional meetings.
To assume additional responsibilities by serving as members of the subgroups established by the Standing Committee.
To provide advice as requested by the Chairperson and/or the chairs of subgroups and/or the Secretariat of the Convention.
In the regions concerned, to make deliberate efforts to encourage other countries to join the Convention."

The Standing Committee normally meets once each year, traditionally at the offices of the Secretariat in Switzerland - in addition, it meets just prior to each meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, at which time it transforms itself into the Conference Committee for the duration of the COP; and then again on the last day of the COP, when the newly elected members choose their chair and vice chair and set the date for their first full business meeting.

There are presently 16 regional and two ex officio members of the Standing Committee, chosen on a proportional basis from the Ramsar regions:

a) one representative for regional groups with 1 to 12 Contracting Parties,
b) two representatives for regional groups with 13 to 24 Contracting Parties,
c) three representatives for regional groups with 25 to 36 Contracting Parties,
d) four representatives for regional groups with 37 to 48 Contracting Parties,
e) five representatives for regional groups with 49 to 60 Contracting Parties.

In addition to the Regional Representatives, the host countries of the most recent and the upcoming meetings of the COP are full members, and the host countries of the Ramsar Secretariat and Wetlands International, as well as the five International Partner Organizations themselves, serve as permanent observers. All other Contracting Parties are always welcome to participate in Standing Committee meetings and working groups as observers, and other countries and non-governmental organizations may participate as observers in the absence of objections.

The composition of the Standing Committee for 2006-2008 is:

Africa: Benin, Gabon, Kenya, and Malawi
Asia: China, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Thailand
Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, Georgia, and Slovenia
Neotropics: Bahamas, Ecuador, and El Salvador
North America: United States
Oceania: Samoa
COP9 host: Uganda
COP10 host: Republic of Korea
Permanent observers: Netherlands, Switzerland, BirdLife International, IUCN-The World Conservation Union, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Wetlands International, WWF International.

The Chair and Vice Chair of the Standing Committee for 2006-2008 are Mr Paul Mafabi (Uganda) and Mr John Bowleg (Bahamas).

Subsidiary bodies of the Standing Committee, 2006-2008

Subgroup on Finance, chaired by USA (established by Decision SC16-1, 1995)
Subgroup on COP10, chaired by Republic of Korea (Decision SC34-6)
Subgroup on the Strategic Plan, chaired by Bahamas (Decision SC34-5)
Management Working Group (Resolution IX.24, Decision SC34-3)
CEPA Oversight Panel, chaired by Bahamas (Res. IX.18, Decision SC34-12)
STRP Oversight Committee (Resolution IX.11)

The core budget of the Convention includes provisions for assisting Regional Representatives from developing countries and countries with economies in transition to attend the meetings of the Standing Committee.

3.3 The Secretariat

Headquarters of The World Conservation Union (IUCN) in Gland, Switzerland, where the Ramsar Convention Secretariat has its facilities. Photo: D. Peck, Ramsar.

The Ramsar Convention Secretariat carries out the day-to-day coordination of the Convention's activities. It is located in the headquarters facilities of IUCN-The World Conservation Union in Gland, Switzerland, and Secretariat staff are legally considered to be employees of IUCN.

The Secretariat is headed by a Secretary General who answers to the Standing Committee and who supervises the work of a small number (currently 13) of policy/technical, communications and administrative staff, four interns, and five members of the MedWet Secretariat based in Athens, Greece. The Policy and Technical staff in the Secretariat itself comprise the Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General and four Senior Regional Advisors to assist the Parties (in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe); the interns serve as Assistant Advisors for the regions to form two-person "regional advisory teams". Each of the SRAs also leads on various thematic issues, as appropriate, such as coral reefs, mountain wetlands, peatlands, poverty reduction, etc. The communications team is responsible for promoting the Convention and the activities of its Secretariat staff, partners, and collaborators through news releases, educational and awareness-raising products, and documentation. Ramsar staff members work in several languages (notably the Convention's three official languages, English, French, and Spanish) and provide expertise in a range of disciplines. Additional staff are occasionally seconded to the Secretariat for special purposes, and consultants are recruited from time to time as needed.

The three staff members of the Ramsar Regional Center for Training and Research on Wetlands in the Western Hemisphere (CREHO) in Panama and the Ramsar Officer for Oceania hosted in the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), Apia, Samoa, are considered to be associated Ramsar staff members.

The functions of the Secretariat are to:

maintain the List of Wetlands of International Importance (§4.3) and note any additions and changes to the List and the Ramsar Sites Database (day-to-day development of the Database is subcontracted to Wetlands International);
assist in convening and organizing the Conference of the Parties, the meetings of the Standing Committee and the STRP, and Ramsar regional meetings;
provide administrative, scientific, and technical support to Contracting Parties, especially in relation to the implementation of the Ramsar Strategic Plan;
assist in recruiting new Contracting Parties;
make known the decisions, Resolutions, and Recommendations of the COP and the Standing Committee;
provide secretariat functions for the Scientific and Technical Review Panel and maintain the functionality of the Web-based STRP Support Service;
seek financial contributions for the Small Grants Fund (§4.4.6), circulate an annual call for applications, and evaluate the project proposals received from Contracting Parties, and evaluate proposals received for the Wetlands for the Future assistance programme;
administer projects funded with earmarked contributions;
keep the Contracting Parties, the Ramsar community, and the public informed of developments related to the Convention;
inform and advise inquirers, where possible, about matters concerning the Convention and wetlands;
organize Ramsar Advisory Missions at the request of Contracting Parties (§4.3.6) and contribute to follow-up of RAM reports; and
develop avenues of cooperation with other conventions, intergovernmental institutions, and national and international NGOs.

3.4 The Administrative Authorities and diplomatic notifications

The head of state or government or the Foreign Office of each Contracting Party designates a national agency to act as the implementing agency, or "Administrative Authority", of the Convention in that country. The Administrative Authority is the focal point for communications with the Ramsar Secretariat and the main agency responsible for the application of the treaty. (Unlike many other conventions, Ramsar treats the designated agency as its "national focal point", not any individual within it.) It is expected that the Administrative Authority will consult and cooperate with as many other government agencies and non-governmental institutions as possible in order to ensure the best possible results in achieving the goals of the Ramsar Convention (see also §3.8, National Ramsar Committees).

Formal communications concerning Convention business are transmitted by the Secretariat through diplomatic notifications sent to either the permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva or the embassy in Bern as determined by each Contracting Party. Copies of notifications are normally sent to the Administrative Authority in each Contracting Party. When a country has no diplomatic representation in Switzerland, notifications are normally forwarded to its embassy in another European capital or to the country's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York.

3.5 The Scientific and Technical Review Panel

The Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) meeting in June 2006, Heather MacKay and Rebecca D'Cruz in the center. Photo: Ramsar staff.

The Scientific and Technical Review Panel of the Ramsar Convention was established by Resolution 5.5 (1993) as a subsidiary body of the Convention to provide scientific and technical guidance to the Conference of the Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Ramsar Secretariat. Its individual members, who are not paid for their services, are elected by the Standing Committee based upon nominations from the Parties, but they serve in their own capacities as experts in the scientific areas required by the STRP's Work Plan and not as representatives of their countries. Resolution VII.2 (1999) modified the composition of the STRP, Resolution VIII.28 (2002) established a detailed modus operandi and terms of reference for the STRP, and Resolution IX.11 (2005) established the revised modus operandi under which the STRP is presently working.

For the triennium 2006-2008, the STRP is chaired by Dr Heather MacKay of South Africa and vice-chaired by Rebecca D'Cruz of Malaysia - the membership of the Panel consists of six regional representatives (one chosen from each of the six Ramsar regions), who are charged with networking with the scientific communities in their regions; six thematic experts chosen for their expertise in the priority areas of work for the period; and representatives of the five International Organization Partners (see §3.9 below), for 17 full members in all. In addition, the Parties have specified a list of 24 convention secretariats, convention subsidiary scientific bodies, and scientific organizations as officially Invited Observer Organizations, and additional consultants, experts, and organizations are asked to participate as required. The progress of the STRP's work is guided and supervised from within the Secretariat by the Deputy Secretary General.

The STRP's Work Plan for each triennium is built around the priority tasks determined by the Standing Committee, which are based upon requests from the Conference of the Parties by means of its Strategic Plan and COP Resolutions and Recommendations. The STRP members and observers are assisted in their work by a network of STRP National Focal Points who advise them directly on STRP matters and provide a liaison between the STRP and the networks of other relevant experts within each of their countries. The STRP's Working Groups and the STRP National Focal Points communicate by means of electronic mail and Internet discussion groups.

The work of the STRP is further assisted by the Web-based STRP Support Service, which was created by Wetlands International and is presently maintained by the staff of the Secretariat. The purpose of the Support Service is to provide the STRP Working Groups and National Focal Points with additional contacts among the expert networks of the International Organization Partners and other groups, identify gaps in needed expertise and endeavor to fill them, assemble a clearinghouse of additional information resources for the tasks of the STRP's Work Plan, and facilitate communication amongst the Working Groups, the Focal Points, and other sources of expertise.

3.6 The Ramsar Convention budget

The Conference of the Contracting Parties reviews the financial regulations of the Convention and adopts a core budget for the next triennium at each of its ordinary meetings. The Convention uses the Swiss franc as its working currency. Draft budgets and explanatory notes are prepared by the Secretariat and are submitted for endorsement to the Standing Committee prior to ordinary meetings of the Conference. The core budget basically covers the following costs:

functioning of the Convention Secretariat (see list of activities in §3.3);
some of the costs of the meetings of the Standing Committee and STRP, including the cost of participation of members from developing countries and countries with economies in transition;
a contribution to Wetlands International for the management of the Ramsar Sites Database and Ramsar Sites Information Service;
a contribution to IUCN for costs incurred in hosting the Secretariat offices;
modest funding for the Convention's CEPA support activities; and
a contribution to support regional initiatives under the Convention.

Travel costs of COP delegates from developing countries and countries with economies in transition are normally met by voluntary contributions from other Contracting Parties.

The budget is approved by consensus among the Contracting Parties present and voting at an ordinary meeting of th