Wetlands Conservation Allows Human Use, Not Abuse

VALENCIA, Spain, November 18, 2002 (ENS) – Wetlands: water, life, and culture, is the theme of the largest ever meeting of Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, named for the city of Ramsar, Iran where the treaty was signed in 1971.

After a string of specialized wetlands meetings in Valencia last week, the 8th Conference of Parties of the Ramsar Convention opened at the Prince Philip Science Museum today with 1,200 registered participants from around the world.

There are presently 133 nations that are Parties to the Ramsar Convention, with 1,229 wetland sites, totaling 105.9 million hectares (408,889 square miles) designated for protection by inclusion on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

This morning, Ramsar Secretary General Delmar Blasco presented three Ramsar Wetland Conservation Awards to honor outstanding contributions to wetlands conservation and sustainable use.

Chilika Lake. Silt was removed from the channel connecting the lagoon to the sea, opening a new mouth to restore the natural flows of water and salinity levels. This resulted in an increase in the lagoon's fish and a reduction of weeds. (Photo courtesy Ramsar Secretariat)

The Ramsar Award is complemented by the Evian Special Prize, consisting of US$10,000 donated by the Danone Group of France, owner of Evian Mineral Waters. Delegates watched the signing of an agreement between the Ramsar Convention and the Danone Group Corporation for funding of activities in the period 2003-2006.

Danone Group president Franck Riboud addresses the delegates to the 8th Conference of Parties of the Ramsar Convention. (Photo courtesy Ramsar Secretariat)

Governments that are Parties to the Ramsar Convention need to put their words into action said a group of NGO representatives at the Global Biodiversity Forum November 15 through 17 in Valencia as a prelude to the official conference.

“We are still destroying wetlands, and subsequently the species and communities that depend upon them. Governments need to apply the guidelines, principles and tools, not just make nice promises again,” said Tim Jones, a wetland expert and co-organizer of the 17th Session of the Global Biodiversity Forum.

Tharu women fishing, Chitwan area, Nepal (Photo Peter Jackson, WWF)

“Governments have done little of what they agreed to in the Conference of Parties in Costa Rica three years ago, for instance to stop the uncontrolled expansion of agriculture and aquaculture into wetlands,” said Maurizio Ferrari, of the UK based Forest People’s Forum.

Nick Davidson, deputy secretary general of the Ramsar Convention, who attended the closing of the Global Biodiversity Forum, said, “Even though the Ramsar Convention has been successful in protecting wetlands, still too many wetlands are destroyed, resulting in the loss of species and livelihoods and increased risk of floods and droughts. The GBF sends a powerful message to governments to increase their efforts to protect these unique ecosystems.”

From left: Dr. Claude Martin, head of WWF International, and Jamie Pittock, head of WWF's Living Waters Programme, Marcel Sylvius and Simon Nash of Wetlands International. (Photo courtesy Ramsar Secretariat)

The site has a high number of endemic species, many of which are listed as vulnerable or endangered in the IUCN Red List: the Lava gull, the Galapagos penguin, and Galapagos sea lion, the Green sea turtle, the marine iguana, and the sea cucumber. The site sustains more than 22 percent of the endemic subspecies Galapagos flamingo. These species and the wetlands supporting them are at risk from human uses that include tourism, non-commercial fishing among the local population, and the raising of such introduced mammals as goats, pigs, and cattle.

The government of Japan has designated two new Wetlands of International Importance, both because of their great value for migratory shorebirds. Fujimae-Higata in the Aichi prefecture is a tidal flat at the mouths of the Shonai, Shinkawa, and Nikko rivers as they flow into the port city of Nagoya. The site is an important staging site along the East Asia-Australia Flyway with one of the highest shorebird counts in Japan.

Shonai Plain with rice paddies. (Photo courtesy ThinkQuest)

Miyajima-numa on the island of Hokkaido is a small, open, shallow freshwater lake left by the nearby Ishikari river, surrounded by rice paddy. The lake is one of the most important staging sites for large migratory waterfowl species that winter in Japan, and more than 50,000 greater white-fronted geese stop over in the spring. The government owned site is used as an agricultural reservoir for surrounding farmlands and is popular with bird watchers.

Ideally, wetlands listed by the Ramsar Secretariat as requiring urgent conservation attention are so well looked after that they can be removed from the list. The Czech Republic has accomplished the measures needed for removal of the Ramsar site "Novozámecky a Brehynsky rybník" from this list, as of September 26. The fishponds, created in the 14th century, were listed in 1994 as a result of adverse ecological change resulting from mismanagement of the site and surrounding areas.

In Valencia, the Ramsar delegates will consider budgetary issues and plans for the coming year in addition to participating in technical sessions, including one on global biodiversity and the sustenance of human life.