Resolutions of the Kushiro Conference

Resolution 5.9 on Application of the Ramsar Criteria

5th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties
Kushiro, Japan
9-16 June 1993

Resolution 5.9: Application of the Ramsar Criteria for Identifying Wetlands of International Importance

RECALLING that Recommendation 4.2 of the Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, held at Montreux, Switzerland in 1990, adopted "Criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance";

FURTHER RECALLING that Section 2 of these Criteria is entitled "General criteria based on plants or animals", while Section 3 is headed "Specific criteria based on waterfowl" and includes Subsection 3 (c) which indicates that a wetland should be considered internationally important if, "where data on populations are available, it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterfowl";

TAKING NOTE of the presentation in Workshop D of the present Meeting by the Species Survival Programme of IUCN - The World Conservation Union on populations of wetland species other than waterfowl;

FURTHER NOTING the presentation in Workshop D of the present Meeting by the International Wetlands and Waterfowl Research Bureau (IWRB) on "Global priorities for waterbird conservation";

RECALLING that, while the Ramsar Criteria identify a wetland as a candidate for designation for the Ramsar List, any decision on designation remains the prerogative of the Contracting Party in whose territory the wetland is situated;

THE CONFERENCE OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES

EXPRESSES its thanks to IUCN and IWRB for their presentations;

CALLS ON Contracting Parties to use the concept and examples provided in IUCN's presentation as a basis for application of Section 2 of the Ramsar Criteria;

FURTHER CALLS ON Contracting Parties to use the figures submitted to the present meeting by IWRB as a basis for application of Section 3, and in particular Subsection 3 (c), of the Ramsar Criteria, and encourages them to provide IWRB with comments and regular updates of the figures; and

REQUESTS IUCN and IWRB to update their figures and data in the light of future research and survey findings, and to submit them to future meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties.

For more information about the Resolutions and Recommendations of the Montreux COP or the Ramsar Convention itself, 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 15 January 1997, updated 6 March 2000, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.