| Wetlands
are vital ecosystems that help sustain the waterways, which provide
our food and drinking water. Yet today wetlands continue to be degraded,
drained and replaced by other land uses all over the world. The Convention
on Wetlands (signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971) ensures that important
wetlands in all continents are protected, and, when this is the case,
used wisely by the local communities that depend on them. Ramsar sites
are wetlands with “international significance in terms of ecology,
botany, zoology, limnology or hydrology.”
The Ramsar
Convention is an intergovernmental treaty with 135 member States,
which have so far designated 1,235 wetland sites, totaling 106.6
million hectares, for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of
International Importance. The Convention's mission 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"
(Ramsar Strategic Plan 2003-2008).
When a country
becomes a party to the Convention, it agrees to designate at least
one wetland for inclusion in the Ramsar List and to ensure its conservation.
At any time, Contracting Parties may designate additional wetlands
for the List or extend the boundaries of those already included.
This map shows
the number of Wetlands of International Importance, or Ramsar sites,
by basin. The basins with the greatest number of Ramsar sites include
the Danube, with 65 sites; the Rhine-Maas basin, with 22; the Niger,
with 15; the Amur, Murray-Darling, Elbe and the Paraguay subbasin,
with 11 Ramsar sites each; and the Po River basin, with 9. It is
important to highlight that there are 36 basins and sub-basins that
only have one designated Ramsar site, and 65 basins and sub-basins
that have no Ramsar sites.
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