प्यारो अतीत

Ramsar Convention Sites

  

Concept

The convention of wetlands has been established to preserve ecological diversity and waterfowl, which hold a unique characteristic in the world. Most of the wetland settings are almost smashed or are going to be occupied either directly or indirectly by the global human population. Therefore, the Ramsar Convention intergovernmental treaty provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.  It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was signed on 2nd February 1971 and came into force in 1975.

The Convention on Wetlands is of international importance; it is an international treaty designed to address global concerns regarding wetland loss and degradation.

This convention uses a broad definition of wetlands. According to section 1.1 of the treaty, "Areas of marsh, fen, peatland, or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish, or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six meters."  It includes all lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, wet grasslands, marshes, peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas, mangroves, coral reefs, swamps, tidal flats, mudflats, and all human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and saltpans. (Pictures are given below.)

Underground Aquifer

Wet Grassland

Marshes

Peatland

Oases

Estuaries

Lakes

Deltas

Mangroves 

Coral Reefs

Fish Pond

Rice Paddies

Reservoir

Salt pans

Swamps

River

Mudflats

Tidal flats

Why Ramsar..?

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was developed as a means to call international attention to the rate at which wetland habitat was disappearing, in part due to a lack of understanding of their important function, values, goods, and services.

The Ramsar Convention motivates people to designate settings containing representative, rare, or unique wetlands that are integral for preserving biological diversity. When they are nominated to the convention list of wetlands, then the influence increases spontaneously because of their ecological, botanical, zoological, limnological, or hydrological values and renown as Ramsar sites.

A government that joins the convention expresses its willingness to make a commitment to help reverse that history of wetland loss and degradation.

The mission of the Ramsar Convention

The Convention’s mission is “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.” ("Wise use" is defined as maintaining the ecological character of a wetland.)

To develop and maintain an international network of wetlands, which are important for the conservation of global biological diversity and for sustaining human life through the maintenance of their components, processes, and benefits. 

Major Components

“Three pillars” of the convention, the Contracting Parties commit to:

> Work towards the wise use of all their wetland.

> Designate suitable wetlands for the list of wetlands of international importance (the “Ramsar List”) and ensure they are effectively managed.

> Cooperate internationally on transboundary wetlands, shared wetland systems, and shared species.

Designation and Ramsar Management

> When a country agrees to join the convention, it has to designate at least one wetland site as a wetland of international importance.

>The information on the acceding countries' first Ramsar site is sent to UNESCO with other documents. UNESCO acts as a convention’s repository.

> Management of their Ramsar sites lies primarily with the contracting parties to maintain their ecological character and retain their essential function and values for sustainable development.

> For Transboundary site management, the authorities on all sides of the border of a particular site should agree to collaborate and notify their intention to the Convention Secretariat at Gland.

Wetland resources in Nepal

By signing the Ramsar Convention on April 17, 1988, Nepal has committed to the conservation of natural habitats.

The first wetland that was recognized is the Koshi Tappu on the Ramsar Conservation List. In Nepal, most of the wetland areas are found in the Tarai region.

There we can find almost 32 kinds of different mammal species, more than 461 different types of bird species, as well as over 9 species of turtle breeds and about 20 different varieties of snakes, and in the water, there are almost 28 groups of different species of fish.

Nevertheless, there is quite a diverse fauna, and there is also quite an abundance of flora and diversity in vegetation in this region. Ramsar sites of Nepal are given below:

Ramsar Convention sites of Nepal are given below:

S.N.	Name	Location	Registration Date	Arhectarestares)	Organized Body	Province
1	Koshi Tappu	Koshi	1978	175DNWPC	NPWC	1
2	Beeshazar and Associated Lakes	Chitwan	2003	3200	DNPWC	Bagmati
3	Ghodaghodi Lake Area	Kailali	3003	2563	Forest Department	Sudurpaschim
4	Jagadishpur Reservoir, ReservoKapilvastu	astu	2003	225	Irrigation Department	Lumbini
5	Gokyo and Associated Lakes	Solukhumbu	2007	7770	DNPWC	1
6	Gosaikund and Associated Lakes	Rasuwa	2007	1030	DNPWC	Bagmati
7	Phoksundo Lake	Dolpa	2007	494	DNPWC	Karnali
8	Rara Lake	Mugu	2007	1583	DNPWC	Karnali
9	Mai Pokhari	Ilam	2008	90	Forest Department	1
10	Lake Cluster of Pokhara Valley	Kaski	2016	26106	Unknown	Gandaki

Some Facts

> 2nd Feb.2071 is considered World Wetland Day.

> The Conference of the contracting parties (COP) meets every three years and promotes policies and guidelines to further the application of the convention.

> Nepal became a member of the Ramsar Convention in April 1988, and designated Koshi Tappu wildlife as its first Ramsar site.

> Eligible countries can apply to the Ramsar Small Grants Fund and Wetland for the Future Fund for financial assistance to implement a wetland conservation and wise use project.

> There are 170 country members in the Ramsar Convention.

> Nepal currently has 10 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 60,561 hectares.

> World’s Wetlands cover about six per cent of the total global land area. - (2009)

> Nepal’s wetlands cover about five per cent of Nepal’s land area. – (2009)

> From 1970 to 2015, 35% of wetlands have dried up -(Global wetland outlook)

> Ramsar list in the world and covering a 252,479,417 hectare area. – (2019, RSIS)

> Nepal’s Ramsar sites represent less than 0.5 per cent of the total number of Ramsar sites in the world. - (2009)

> The countries with the most sites are the United Kingdom with 175 and Mexico with 142.

> Bolivia has the largest area, with 148,000 km square under Ramsar Protection. 2341 wetland sites have been included.

References

>National Lake Conservation Committee

> List of Ramsar wetlands of international importance.Wikipedia

> Ramsar Site of Nepal. (Sep2018)

> Present status of Ramsar sites in Nepal, Gandif Kafle(2009)

> Pictures were taken from Google.