Ramsar Convention
The Convention on the Conservation of Wetlands of International Importance was adopted more than 50 years ago. That makes it the oldest international convention dealing with the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.
Sprungmarken
On 2 February 1971, the Convention on the Conservation of Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) was signed in Ramsar, Iran. Germany ratified the Ramsar Convention in 1976.
Over the past decades, the Convention’s primary focus has developed from protecting waterfowl to the holistic conservation and sustainable use of habitats and species. As a result of this shift, the Convention’s objectives have been broadened to align them more closely with the Convention on Biological Diversity (conservation – sustainable use – fair and equitable sharing of benefits).
In addition to developing management plans, monitoring the ecological character and cooperating with other regional and global treaties and institutions, the Convention also aims to involve local communities through outreach activities and measures designed to foster acceptance and generate income.
Responsibilities of the Contracting Parties
Every Contracting Party must commit to designating at least one wetland in its territory as a Wetland of International Importance and to maintain and develop these sites through preservation of their ecological character, biotope management and sustainable use. Furthermore, the Contracting Parties must ensure that all other wetlands within their territories are also used in a sustainable way to the extent possible. The parties are required to cooperate internationally in the interest of wetland conservation.
They are also responsible for communicating the message of the Ramsar Convention and the importance of wetlands to the public. To this end, the BMU commissioned and published a translation of the Ramsar Handbook into German, also as working material for the Ramsar decision-makers in Germany. World Wetlands Day is also celebrated every year on 2 February. The Ramsar Secretariat provides material for this purpose. Member states are called upon to draw attention to the special importance of wetlands on this day. This year’s topic is wetlands and human well-being.
Currently, 172 countries are parties to the Convention (as at October 2024), having designated a total of 2,523 wetland sites of international importance with a total area of almost 2.6 million square kilometres. The Conference of the Parties takes place every three years with the last one, COP 14, held in November 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland with a virtual link to Wuhan, China. The next Conference of the Parties will take place in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in July 2025.
Situation in Germany
Germany has designated 35 wetland sites with a total area of around 869,000 hectares. The Rosenheim Basin Bogs located in the Alpine foothills of Bavaria are the most recent addition to Germany’s wetlands of international importance. The site was included in the official Ramsar list in early 2021 and stretches over an area of around 1,000 hectares.
Changes in the ecological character
If the ecological character of a wetland of international importance changes in such a way that the natural living conditions deteriorate significantly (for example, as a result of hypertrophication or intensification of farming), the wetland has to be placed on a special register known as the Montreux Record. This triggers a monitoring and advisory process whereby the Ramsar Secretariat sends a technical mission to analyse the situation on site. Together with the Contracting Party, the Ramsar Advisory Mission identifies the measures to be taken to improve/restore the status of the site. The wetland remains on the Montreux Record until the ecological character has improved. The Montreux Record was established in 1990 and is maintained by the office of the Convention.