Spread the word and help save wetlands!
04 November 2008, Changwon (Korea). The 10th Conference of the Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands marked a great leap forward in wetland conservation. The Conference stressed the close relation between wetland management and human health and adopted more than 30 resolutions amending the Convention’s strategic set-up and planning. In particular, the resolution on climate change calls upon parties to manage wetlands in such a way as to increase their resilience to climate change and extreme weather events and urges to take action to minimize degradation and improve management practices of peatlands and other wetland types that are significant carbon stores. On biofuels, the Conference expressed awareness of potential negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts from unsustainable biofuel production and use.
The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention intends to keep high the momentum created in Korea and is getting ready to celebrate World Wetlands Day on 2 February 2009 under the slogan “Upstream-Downstream: Wetlands connect us all”. This annual initiative is part of the overall strategy of the Secretariat to raise awareness of the importance of wetlands and river basins for the maintenance of healthy and productive inland freshwater and coastal systems. A toolkit including posters, stickers, a comic strip and a leaflet is made available to anybody willing to contribute disseminating information and increasing public attention on the Convention. All materials are customizable so as to be adjusted to local needs. You can request a copy at mailto:ramsar@ramsar.org.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. It was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975, and it is the only global environmental treaty that deals with a particular ecosystem. Up to now, 158 nations have joined the Convention and more than 1800 wetlands around the world – covering over 168 million hectares – have been designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The Contracting Parties agree to “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”.
As defined by the Convention, wetlands include a wide variety of habitats such as marshes, peatlands, floodplains, rivers and lakes, and coastal areas such as saltmarshes, mangroves, and seagrass beds, but also coral reefs and other marine areas no deeper than six metres at low tide, as well as human-made wetlands such as waste-water treatment ponds and reservoirs.
For a more comprehensive description of the Convention, visit the website:
