Ramsar Convention

1. Ramsar Convention
Presentation by Hari Sharma(luitel)
M-Tech (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
LPU

2. Mission goal
“the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and
national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution
towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world”.

3. Basic
• Ramsar Convention is formally known as
Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat.
• It was signed on 2 February 1971 at Ramsar
in Iran. That date is celebrated as World
Wetland Day now.

4. Objective interpretation
Ramsar Convention has two fold objectives viz.
• Conservation and sustainable utilization of
wetlands;
• Stop the encroachment and loss of wetlands.

5. Know how
• The convention was developed and adopted
by participating nations at a meeting
in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran, on 2 February
1971, hosted by the Iranian Department of
Environment, and came into force on 21
December 1975.

6. and
• Presently there are 169 contracting parties, up
from 21 initial signatory nations in 1971.
• There is a standing committee, a scientific
review panel, and a secretariat. The
headquarters is located in Gland, Switzerland,
shared with the IUCN.

7. Basically What is wetland?

8. A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either
permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the
characteristics of a distinct ecosystem.

9. Hope you know what is ecosystem!

10. Lets check our knowledge
Guess the correct picture of
wetland

11. lake
Yes or No

12. River
Yes or no

13. swamp
Yes or no

14. Grassland
Yes or no

15. Under ground aquifer
Yes or no

16. Marsh
Yes or no

17. peatland
Yes or no

18. oasis
Yes or no

19. Delta
Yes or no

20. estuary
Yes or no

21. Fish pond
Yes or no

22. mangrove
Ye or no

23. Rice paddy
Yes or no

24. Reservoir
Yes or no

25. Salt pan
Yes or no

26. Lets see how much your are right according to the
Ramsar convention

27. According to Ramsar convention all
the picture shown are included in
its definition of the wetland

28. Why should I care about
Wetlands ?
• Wetlands provide fresh water
• Wetlands feed humanity
• Wetlands are nature’s shock absorbers
• Wetlands are critical for biodiversity
• Wetlands create sustainable products and
livelihoods

29. And ….
• Wetlands are disappearing fast
• Recent estimates show that 64 % or more of
the world’s wetlands have disappeared since
1900.

30. the main causes of the degradation
and loss of wetlands are:
––Major changes in land use, especially
• increased agriculture and grazing
––Water diversion through dams,
• dykes and canalization
––Infrastructure development,
• particularly in urban areas, river valleys and
coastal areas.

31. Knowing two very important term in advance

32. Two important term
Ramsar list
"wetlands should be selected
for the list on account of their
international significance in
termsof
ecology, botany, zoology, limn
ology or hydrology.“
They are recognized as being of
significant value not only for
the country or the countries
in which they are located, but
for humanity as a whole.
• Montreux Record
The Montreux Record is a
register of listed Ramsar sites
where changes in ecological
character have occurred, are
occurring, or are likely to occur as
a result of technological
developments, pollution or other
human interference.

33. How does Ramsar convention work?
• First of all a country joins the Ramsar
Convention.
Once a country has joined, there are three
commitments which it has to fulfill as
obligations:

34. 1
• It has to designate at least one of its wetlands
into the List of Wetlands of International
Importance called “Ramsar List”

35. 2
• The country has to make all efforts for wise
use and conservation of the Ramsar Sites in its
territory. Being a part of Ramsar convention
gives it access to know-how of conservation in
different parts of the world.

36. 3
• If the ecological character of any Ramsar
wetland has changed, or is changing or is likely
to change as the result of technological
developments, pollution or other human
interference, it will inform without delay to
the Ramsar Secretariat.

37. Once this information has been provided to Ramsar Secretariat,
it will do the following
• Enter the wetland into its Montreux Record
• Send a Ramsar Advisory Mission to the country.
This mission will analyse the situation and define
how to tackle the threats to the wetland.
• Once the appropriate measures have been taken,
the site will be removed from Montreux Record

38. Ramsar Classification System for
Wetland Type
• Marine/coastal wetlands
• Inland wetlands
• Human-made wetlands

39. India
• India became a contracting party to the
Ramsar Convention in October 1981 and
designated Chilika Lake (Odisha) and Keoladeo
National Park (Rajasthan) as its first two
Ramsar Sites.

40. and
• Four additional sites were designated in 1990:
Sambhar Lake (Rajasthan), Loktak Lake
(Manipur), Harike Lake (Punjab) and Wular
Lake (Jammu & Kashmir).

41. Currently, India has 26 Ramsar Sites

42. Jammu and kashmir
any guesses ??

43. Jammu & Kashmir
• Hokera Wetland
• Surinsar-Mansar Lakes
• Tsomoriri
• Wular Lake

44. Punjab

45. Punjab
Harike Lake (Harike Wetland and the lake are
manmade and were formed by
constructingthe head works across the Sutlej
river, in 1953)
Kanjli
Ropar

46. Fact sheet
• The Ramsar List of Wetlands of International
Importance now includes 2228 Sites
• covering over (531,056,120 acres)
• The country with the highest number of Sites
is the United Kingdom at 170
• the country with the greatest area of listed
wetlands is Bolivia, with over
140,000 km2 (54,000 sq mi)

47. ALSO
• Currently, two wetlands of India are in
Montreux record viz. Keoladeo National Park,
Rajasthan and Loktak Lake, Manipur. Further,
Chilka lake was placed in the record but was
later removed from it.

48. And
• Renuka Wetland (This is smallest wetland of
India) which is in HP.
• Vembanad-Kol Wetland (Largest Wetland of
India) Kerala

49. Thank you