Ramsar site

Short description: Wetland sites designated to have international importance by the Ramsar Convention

Map of Ramsar sites Harike Wetland is a Ramsar site in India Archipel Bolama-Bijagos Ramsar site in Guinea-Bissau Walkway in Zuvintas Biosphere Reserve

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 treaty participants meet regularly to identify and agree to protect "Wetlands of International Importance", especially those providing waterfowl habitat.

As of August 2025[update], there are 2,544 Ramsar sites around the world, which protect 257,994,488 hectares (637,518,260 acres), and 172 national governments participate in the convention.[1]

## Contents

* 1 List of Sites
* 2 Criteria for Ramsar sites
* 3 Classification System
* 3.1 Marine/coastal wetlands
* 3.2 Inland wetlands
* 3.3 Human-made wetlands
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## List of Sites

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

## Criteria for Ramsar sites

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 System

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 "The Convention on Wetlands". Ramsar. http://www.ramsar.org.
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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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...

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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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