Ramsar site

Short description: Wetland site as designated by the Ramsar Convention

Harike Wetland is a Ramsar site in India

Map of Ramsar sites

A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,[1] also known as "The Convention on Wetlands", an international environmental treaty signed on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran, under the auspices of UNESCO. It came into force on 21 December 1975, when it was ratified by a sufficient number of nations. It provides for national action and international cooperation regarding the conservation of wetlands, and wise sustainable use of their resources.[1] Ramsar identifies wetlands of international importance, especially those providing waterfowl habitat.

(As of November 2023), there are 2,500 Ramsar sites around the world, protecting 257,106,360 hectares (635,323,700 acres), and 172 national governments are participating.[1]

## Contents

* 1 Site listings
* 2 Ramsar site criteria
* 3 Classification
* 3.1 Marine/coastal wetlands
* 3.2 Inland wetlands
* 3.3 Human-made wetlands
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Site listings

The non-profit organisation Wetlands International provides access to the Ramsar database via the Ramsar Sites Information Service.[2]

## Ramsar site criteria

A wetland can be considered internationally important if any of the following nine criteria apply:[3]

* Criterion 1: "it contains a representative, rare, or unique example of a natural or near-natural wetland type found within the appropriate biogeographic region."
* Criterion 2: "it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities."
* Criterion 3: "it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region."
* Criterion 4: "it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions."
* Criterion 5: "it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds."
* Criterion 6: "it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbird."
* Criterion 7: "it supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies, species or families, life-history stages, species interactions and/or populations that are representative of wetland benefits and/or values and thereby contributes to global biological diversity."
* Criterion 8: "it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend."
* Criterion 9: "it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of wetland-dependent non-avian animal species."

## Classification

The Ramsar Classification System for Wetland Type is a wetland classification developed within the Ramsar Convention intended as a means for fast identification of the main types of wetlands for the purposes of the Convention.[4]

### Marine/coastal wetlands

* Saline water:
* Permanent:
* (A) Permanent shallow marine waters: Less than 6m deep at low tide; including sea bays and straits
* (B) Marine subtidal aquatic beds: Underwater vegetation; including kelp beds and sea grass beds, and tropical marine meadows
* (C) Coral reefs
* Shores:
* (D) Rocky marine shores
* (E) Sand, shingle or pebble shores
* Saline or brackish water:
* Intertidal:
* (G) Intertidal mud, sand or salt flats
* (H) Intertidal marshes
* (I) Intertidal forested wetlands
* Lagoons:
* (J) Coastal brackish/saline lagoons
* Estuarine waters:
* (F) Estuarine waters
* Saline, brackish, or fresh water:
* Subterranean:
* (Zk(a)) Karst and other Subterranean hydrological systems
* Fresh water:
* Lagoons:
* (K) Coastal freshwater lagoons

### Inland wetlands

* Fresh water:
* Flowing water:
* Permanent:
* Permanent inland river deltas (L)
* Permanent rivers/creeks/streams (M)
* Freshwater springs, oases (Y)
* Seasonal/intermittent rivers/creeks/streams (N)
* Lakes/pools:
* Permanent >8 ha (O)
* Permanent < 8 ha(Tp)
* Seasonal / Intermittent > 8 ha (P)
* Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
* Marshes on inorganic soils:
* Permanent (herb dominated) (Tp)
* Permanent / Seasonal / Intermittent (shrub dominated)(W)
* Permanent / Seasonal / Intermittent (tree dominated) (Xf)
* Seasonal/intermittent (herb dominated) (Ts)
* Marshes on peat soils:
* Permanent (non-forested)(U)
* Permanent (forested)(Xp)
* Marshes on inorganic or peat soils:
* Marshes on inorganic or peat soils / High altitude (alpine) (Va)
* Marshes on inorganic or peat soils / Tundra (Vt)
* Saline, brackish or alkaline waters:
* Lakes
* Permanent (Q)
* Seasonal/intermittent (R)
* Marshes/pools
* Permanent (Sp)
* Seasonal/intermittent (Ss)
* Fresh, saline, brackish or alkaline waters:
* Geothermal (Zg)
* Subterranean (Zk(b))

### Human-made wetlands

* (1): Aquaculture ponds
* (2): Ponds (farm and stock ponds, small stock tanks, or area less than 8 ha)
* (3): Irrigated land
* (4): Seasonally flooded agricultural land
* (5): Salt exploitation sites
* (6): Water Storage areas/Reservoirs
* (7): Excavations
* (8): Wastewater treatment areas
* (9): Canals and drainage channels or ditches
* (Zk(c)): human-made karst and other subterranean hydrological systems

## See also

* List of parties to the Ramsar Convention
* Montreux Record
* Ramsar sites by country
* Wetlands conservation topics

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ramsar.org homepage. Accessed 03.10.2016.
2. ↑ Ramsar.org: Ramsar Sites Information Service website, by Wetlands International. Accessed 03.10.2016.
3. ↑ "Ramsar Information Paper no. 5: the criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance". The Ramsar Convention Secretariat. https://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/info2007-05-e.pdf.
4. ↑ "Ramsar Classification System for Wetland Type", Annex I of the Information sheet

## External links

* Ramsar Sites Information Service.org: Official List of all Ramsar Sites website—via Ramsar Sites Information Service
* Ramsar Sites Information Service.org—images of Ramsar sites
* Ramsar.org: Ramsar Convention website

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Wetlands

Generally|

* Acrotelm
* Aquatic ecosystem
* Aquatic plants
* Atchafalaya Basin
* Backswamp
* Bayou
* Beach meadow
* Blackwater river
* Blanket bog
* Bog
* Bog garden
* Brackish marsh
* Callows
* Carr
* Cataract bog
* Ciénega
* Clean Water Act
* Clearwater river
* Coastal bog
* Coniferous swamp
* Constructed wetland
* Dambo
* Drainage basin
* Estuary
* Fen
* Flark
* Flood-meadow
* Flooded grasslands and savannas
* Freshwater marsh
* Freshwater swamp forest
* Grass valley
* Guelta
* Halosere
* Hydrosere
* Igapó
* Ings
* Interdunal wetland
* Intertidal wetland
* Karst
* Kermi bog
* Kettle
* Lagg
* Mangrove
* Marsh
* Marsh gas
* Mere
* Mire
* Misse
* Moorland
* Muck
* Mudflat
* Muskeg
* Oasis
* Palsa bog
* Paludification
* Palustrine wetland
* Plateau bog
* Pocosin
* Polygonal bog
* Pond
* Peat swamp forest
* Poor fen
* Pothole
* Raised bog
* Reed bed
* Rich fen
* Riparian zone
* River delta
* Salt marsh
* Salt pannes and pools
* Shrub swamp
* Slough
* String bog
* Swamp
* Telmatology
* Tidal marsh
* Upland bog
* Wet meadow
* Will-o'-the-wisp
* Várzea forest
* Vernal pool
* Whitewater river
* Yaéré

Classification systems|

* Wetland classification
* A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia
* National Wetlands Inventory
* Ramsar Convention

Organizations|

* Bangladesh Haor and Wetland Development Board
* Delta Waterfowl Foundation
* Ducks Unlimited
* Wetlands International
* Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust

* v
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* e

Aquatic ecosystems

Aquatic ecosystems – general and freshwater components

| General|

* Acoustic ecology
* Adaptation
* Agent-based models
* Algal bloom
* Anoxic waters
* Aquatic animals (Insects
* Mammals)
* Aquatic plants
* Aquatic science
* Benthos
* Biodiversity research
* Bioluminescence
* Biomass
* Biomonitoring
* Cascade effect
* Colored dissolved organic matter
* Camouflage and mimicry
* Dead zone
* Ecohydrology
* Ecosystems
* Eutrophication
* Fisheries science
* Food chain
* Food web
* GIS and aquatic science
* Hydrobiology
* Hypoxia
* Isotope analysis
* Microbial ecology
* Microbial food web
* Microbial loop
* Nekton
* Neuston
* Particle
* Pelagic zone
* Photic zone
* Phytoplankton
* Plankton
* Pleuston
* Predation
* Productivity
* Ramsar Convention
* Respiration
* Schooling
* Sediment trap
* Siltation
* Spawning
* Substrate
* Thermal pollution
* Toxicology
* Trophic level
* Water column
* Zooplankton
* More...

|
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Freshwater|

* Biology
* Biomes
* Ecosystems
* freshwater
* lake
* river
* Fish
* Hyporheic zone
* Limnology
* Lake stratification
* Macrophyte
* Pond
* Fish pond
* Rheotaxis
* Stream bed
* Stream pool
* Trophic state index
* Upland and lowland
* Water garden
* Wetland
* brackish marsh
* freshwater marsh
* swamp
* bog
* fen
* Environmental quality
* More...

Ecoregions|

* Freshwater (List)
* Marine (List)
* The Everglades
* Maharashtra
* The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
* The San Francisco Estuary

Aquatic ecosystems – marine components

| Marine|

* Marine biology
* Marine chemistry
* Deep scattering layer
* Diel vertical migration
* Ecosystems
* large marine
* marine)
* f-ratio
* Iron fertilization
* Marine snow
* Ocean nourishment
* Oceanic physical-biological process
* Ocean turbidity
* Photophore
* Thorson's rule
* Upwelling
* Whale fall
* More...

|
|

Marine
life|

* Bacteriophages
* Census
* Fish
* coastal
* coral reef
* deep sea
* demersal
* pelagic
* Deep sea communities
* Deep sea creature
* Deep-water coral
* Invertebrates
* Larvae
* Mammals
* Marine life
* Algae and plants
* Microorganisms
* Paradox of the plankton
* Reptiles
* Seabirds
* Seashore wildlife
* Vertebrates
* Wild fisheries

Marine
habitats|

* Bay mud
* Coastal biogeomorphology
* Cold seeps
* Coral reefs
* Davidson Seamount
* Estuaries
* Intertidal ecology
* Intertidal wetlands
* Kelp forests
* Hydrothermal vents
* Lagoons
* Mangroves
* Marine biomes
* Marine habitats
* Mudflats
* Rocky shores
* Salt marshes
* Salt pannes and pools
* Seagrass meadows
* Sponge grounds
* Sponge reefs
* Tide pools

Issues|

* Coral bleaching
* Ecological values of mangroves
* Fisheries and climate change
* HERMIONE
* Marine conservation
* Marine conservation activism
* Marine pollution
* Marine Protected Area

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