Address to the press conference (31 October 1996) by Ms. Louise Lakos, Chairperson of the Ramsar Standing Committee
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are meeting to present birthday greetings to the Ramsar Convention, the Convention on Wetlands, in the year of its 25th birthday. The text of the Ramsar Convention (so called from its birthplace, the city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Iran) was agreed in February 1971. The Convention is the first of the modern intergovernmental agreements on nature conservation and natural resources.
But what are wetlands and why do they need an intergovernmental convention? Even the word "wetland" is new and somewhat unfamiliar to the layman. The Convention adopts a very broad definition: not just lakes or marshes, but also rivers, peatlands, estuaries even shallow seas and coral reefs. For years, particularly in Europe, wetlands had a bad image in popular culture, as bogs and swamps, unhealthy places to be avoided. So, for the last two hundred years, they have been considered as wastelands, to be drained, sanitized, mercilessly hunted out of existence.
Only in the 1960s, as wetlands disappeared in North America and Europe, was it realized that they are some of the most productive places on earth. They provide - at no cost - a host of useful services to mankind: they maintain underground water tables and protect ground water; they absorb river floods and coastal storms; they purify rivers and streams; they produce fish, grazing, timber; and they do all this in addition to supporting biodiversity - water birds, mammals, plants, reptiles, amphibians - which are of great intrinsic scientific value, and of recreational benefit to mankind. Many non-European cultures of course recognize these benefits and values, particularly when they provide direct economic support to maintain the life styles of these peoples.
The Convention's founding fathers felt that the perception of wetlands had to change, and that governments had to take action to conserve and use them wisely. For this reason , Ramsar was established as an intergovernmental treaty, which states join at the highest level. Ramsar was the precursor of other conventions in this field, such as the 1972 World Heritage Convention, CITES in 1975, and the Conventions on Biological Diversity and Climate Change, developed at the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit.
So far, 94 states have joined Ramsar. The first of the main obligations they accept is to designate at least one wetland for the Ramsar "List of Wetlands of International Importance", and they must naturally maintain the ecological character of wetlands so nominated. So far, the 94 members have designated some 850 wetlands, covering 500,000 square kilometres, i.e. an area roughly equal to the total size of France or Spain.
The second main obligation is to make "wise use" of all their wetlands, whether or not they are on the Ramsar List. (By "wise use" we mean the same as the current phrase "sustainable use". ) The member states have spent much time and effort in defining "wise use". They have concluded that it means developing national wetland policies which place wetlands in the context of overall national planning on land and water use. In the coming years, the Convention will relate conservation of wetlands to wise use of water resources, since water will be one of the strategic resources of the next century.
Use of water and development of national wetland policies are at the heart of the Strategic Plan, approved at the 6th Ramsar Conference of the Contracting Parties, held on the occasion of the 25th birthday earlier this year, in Brisbane, Australia. These Ramsar Conferences of all member states are held every three years.
The celebration today coincides with the annual meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee, the executive body which deals with ongoing Convention business. The Ramsar secretariat (or "Bureau") is located in Gland (conveniently close to other international secretariats based in the Geneva area); so the Standing Committee often meets on the shores of Lac Léman. The Swiss authorities at federal, cantonal and commune level have combined to organize today's 25th birthday celebration, and I should like to thank them for taking this initiative, and for their ongoing support to the Ramsar Convention. Switzerland is of course a long-standing member: it joined in 1976, has listed eight Swiss wetlands for the Ramsar List, and provides financial assistance to other member states, notably those in transition or in the developing world, thus helping them to meet their obligations under the convention. Ambassadors and diplomats from many of these countries will attend today's celebration.
We hope to ensure that the next 25 years mark continued progress towards conservation of individual wetland sites, as well as the adoption of wise policies that will affect every human being using water. Thank you.
Ms Louise Lakos, who has been Chairperson of the Ramsar Standing Committee since 1993, serves as Deputy Head of the Department for European Integration and International Relations in the Hungarian Ministry for Environment and Regional Policy in Budapest. She was formerly Senior Officer and Ministerial Councillor in the Division of International Organizations of the same ministry, and has had long experience of her Government’s cooperation with intergovernmental organizations (e.g., UNEP), NGOs (e.g., IUCN, Wetlands International, BirdLife International), and convention secretariats (e.g., Ramsar, CITES, World Heritage, Bonn Convention on Migratory Species). Ms Lakos participated as head of Hungary’s delegation at the 4th Ramsar Meeting of the Contracting Parties (Montreux, 1990) and served as alternate member of the Standing Committee through the next triennium, becoming Chair of the Committee as from the 5th Meeting in Kushiro, Japan (1993). She is presently also Vice-Chair of the Council of Europe’s Naturopa Centre.