Azerbaijan joins the Ramsar Convention. The Ramsar Bureau is delighted to announce that on 21 May 2001 Azerbaijan deposited with the Director General of UNESCO its instrument of accession to the Convention on Wetlands, as amended by the Paris Protocol of 1982 and Regina Amendments of 1987, and thus the Convention and amendments will enter into force for Azerbaijan on 21 September 2001. Two wetlands have been designated as the new Party’s first additions to the List of Wetlands of International Importance: Agh-Ghol (500 hectares, 40º01’N 047º38’E) is listed as wetland types Q and Sp (permanent saline/brackish/alkaline lakes and marshes/pools) and is said to be particularly important for wintering waterbirds (Criterion 5), with some 130,000 birds counted in 1994/95, the most recent year for which data are available. Ghizil-Agaj (99,060 hectares, 39º07’N 048º59’E) includes both coastal lagoons and shallow marine waters with permanent lakes and marshes/pools both brackish and freshwater; like Agh-Ghol, this site has been designated under the representativeness criterion and under the 20,000+ waterbirds Criterion 5. The data for both sites exist presently only in Russian but translations are being arranged. This accession brings the Convention to 125 Contracting Parties and is the 22nd in the Bureau's Asian administrative region, with 1075 wetlands on the List of Wetlands of International Importance. [03/08/01]
