1. Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
“Wetlands and Water: supporting life sustaining wetlands”
Kampala, Uganda, 8-15 November
Final Presentation
Task Group: Sean Mandel, Aimee Barnes
Megan Stouffer, and Emily Capello
Ramsar is a convention on wetlands… so what are wetlands and why are they important?

2. Summary of the Presentation
Definition of a Wetland and the Ecological Services Wetlands Provide
Drivers of Wetland Degradation
Wetlands Problems
Introduction to Ramsar and the COP 9: Resolution IX.4 Annex
Solutions Proposed by COP 9
Controversies of the Proposed Solutions
Monitoring and Measurements of Success

3. What is a Wetland? Wetlands are difficult to define:
Range of hydrological conditions
Great variation in size, location, and human influence
Distinguishing features of wetlands:
Presence of standing water
Unique wetland soil
Vegetation adapted to or tolerant of saturated soils

4. Why Protect Wetlands? Healthy wetlands provide important services:
Ecological
Recreational
Scientific
Cultural
Economic
When considering policy for wetlands, economic considerations often speak the loudest
The World Conservation Monitoring Centre has suggested an estimate of about 570 million hectares (5.7 million km2) – roughly 6% of the Earth’s land surface – of which 2% are lakes, 30% bogs, 26% fens, 20% swamps, and 15% floodplains.
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5. Drivers of Degradation & Destruction of Wetlands
Aquaculture
Public Perception
Agriculture
Urban/Suburban Development
Photo: Oyster leases at Wallis Lake, NSW (photo by Dave Ryan)
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Photo: wetlands/wildrice.jpg
Photo: US Fish and Wildlife Service:

6. Problem: Loss and Fragmentation of Wetlands
Development, agriculture, and aquaculture lead to habitat fragmentation
Barriers for water provision and irrigation redirect water
Fish cannot reach spawning grounds or food sources
Habitat destruction and fragmentation is the number one cause of declining fish populations
Barries created can be for agriculture, water reservoirs ect.

7. Implications of Wetland Loss and Fragmentation
Decreased ecological integrity and services:
Loss of groundwater reserves
Shoreline erosion
Loss of spawning and feeding grounds for fish
Decline in commercial/noncommercial populations
Red arrow = sediment input into waterway
Black arrow = nutrient input into waterway
Yellow diamond = contaminants
Dots = sediments
Circle = healthy food web
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8. Implications of Wetland Loss and Fragmentation
Loss of storm protection services:
Storm surge protection through friction and absorption
Wave height reduction by causing waves to touch bottom earlier and break
Soil retention by lowering water velocities
Decrease storm surge through friction. Between 1 and 2.7 miles of wetlands, on average one foot of storm surge is absorbed
Store stormwater and replenish groundwater
Decrease wave heights by causing waves to touch bottom earlier and break. Studies have concluded that more than half of normal wave energy is dissipated within the first 3 meters of encountering marsh vegetation such as cord-grass
Decrease erosion by lowering water velocities and binding the soil
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Photo: com/hurricane-katrina-2.jpg

9. Implications of Loss of Storm Protection Services
Decreased natural barrier
against extreme weather events
Increased flooding
Increased destruction due to storms
Destruction of fisheries and their infrastructure
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10. Problem: Pollution Development, agriculture, and aquaculture lead to:
Discharge of excess nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)) from sewage, soaps and detergents, and agricultural runoff
Sediments from soil erosion
Toxins (heavy metals and organic compounds like mercury and PCBs)
Improperly managed wetlands cannot effectively filter pollutants

11. Implications of Pollution
Decreased water quality
Bioaccumulation of toxins in wetland species
Decline in native plant, fish, and waterfowl populations
Eutrophication of wetlands
Excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or body of water, frequently due to a runoff in land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and the death of animal life from lack of oxygen
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12. So What Happens?

13. Mission of Convention
"the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world."
Purpose
(Cop7 1999, San Jose, Costa Rica)

14. Key Data Current sites: 1608 wetland sites
Number of parties: 152 nations
Surface area: 345 million acres
Categories: Marine & Coastal, Inland, & Human-Made
Encompasses 42 wetland types
Surface Area: Bigger than France, Germany and Switzerland combined
Considered one of the first multilateral conservation agreement
Photo: David Trilling (2006) Iraq

15. Legislation vs. Agreement
Legislation is law
Mandates and enforces behavior
Passed by a governing body
Agreements or
treaties
Contractual
agreement
Can be binding
or prescriptive
According to Article 9.2 of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), "Any member of the United Nations or of one of the Specialized Agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency or Party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice may become a Party to this Convention". Unfortunately, supranational bodies, such as the European Commission, are thus not eligible to join the Convention, but may nevertheless develop bilateral working agreements with the Convention secretariat.
Wetlands function as a natural sponge to absorb and slowly release water and reduce flood heights
Ramsar is prescriptive not binding!
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16. Conference of Parties (COP) 9: Resolution IX.4-Annex:
The Ramsar Convention and Conservation, Production and Sustainable Use of Fisheries Resources

17. Solutions of COP 9 Resolution IX.4 Annex
Sustainable management of wetland ecosystems for fisheries
Increased international cooperation
Improvements to information on the status of fisheries in Ramsar sites
There are 11 different solutions identified in the annex but we have focused on these
Highlight the importance of inland, coastal, and near-shore marine wetlands to fisheries
Integrate fishery management to wetlands management
Increase understanding on the importance of wetlands to biodiversity
Sustaining fisheries as an economic resource
Promote “Wise Use” of resources
Create a scientific forum for wetlands education
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18. 1. Sustainable management of wetland ecosystems for fisheries
“Wise use” and maintenance of ecological structure of wetlands
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19. Implementation: “Wise Use” Framework
The Ramsar Toolkit
14 handbooks on how to implement the Ramsar Convention
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20. 2. Increased International Cooperation
Salmon migration:
Chum
Chinook
Sockeye
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21. 3. Improvements to information on the status of fisheries in Ramsar sites
Salmon Indicators at Izembek National Wildlife Refuge—1st U.S. RAMSAR site
Important salmon spawning ground
Require pure, well-oxygenated cold water
Indicators:
abundance
genetic diversity
geographic distribution
stage of lifecycle
First ramsar site (in 1987??), this is an imporatn salmon spawning ground- 5 different species of salmon are found here. Important economically- many people in this area depend on fishing, culturally-since 60s “salmon day??”, for the whole food web-bears eat the salmon “see so many per mile…”
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22. Controversies Related to Wetland Destruction/Ramsar COP 9 Policies
Mitigated wetlands
Cross-border cooperation on ecological goals
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23. 1. Mitigation of Wetlands
Do constructed wetlands have the same quality as natural wetlands?
Can compensate for wetland loss and restore formerly impacted wetlands
Can require management for several decades
Quality sacrificed for quantity
Mitigated wetland might not reflect the characteristics of the natural wetland it is replacing
Mitigated = resorting, replacing or creating ecological habitats in one area to compensate for loss of natural habitats in another area due to development

24. Past Losses and Mitigation
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25. 2. Cross-Border Resource Management
5 of 22 US Ramsar sites span state or international borders
Cado Lake: see output 8
Map: Microsoft Encarta

26. Measuring the Success of COP 9 Resolution IX.4
Indicator Criteria
Simple and pragmatic
Capable of distinguishing the difference made by the Ramsar Convention
Reflective of multiple variables
Related to readily available information
Serviceable by wide popular audiences
Can also speak about these in relation to:
Priority rankings for importance in respect of effectiveness of the Convention, Feasibility,
Creation of an initial suite of indicators which span a range of key issues, Favoring initially some indicators which are generic or "umbrella" in character, and which are capable of incorporating elements from some of the others in the original list developed by the STRP.
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27. Priority Indicators 2006-2008 Overall conservation status of wetlands
Water-related indicator(s)
Overall population trends of wetland taxa
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28. Future Monitoring Finalization of current indicators
Status and trends report: 2008 & 2011
Inclusion of more indicators
Wise use policy
Wetland services for humans
Additional water-related indicators
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29. Conclusion
Wetlands provide important ecological and socio-economic services
Degradation limits their ability to provide these services
COP 9 of Ramsar proposes several solutions to reduce wetland destruction and promote wetland conservation for sustainable fisheries
Implementation of U.S. wetland conservation measures in conjunction with existing policy has improved management and monitoring of our nations wetlands

30. Acknowledgements The RAMSAR Group
Aimee Barnes, Emily Capello, Matthew Ebright, Emily Gaskin, Lauren Kell, Megan Stouffer, Rebecca Smith, Sean Mandel, Whitney Blake, Helen Morris , Flora Lee
…and congratulations to all our fellow classmates for making it through the summer term!

31. Thank You Professor Cook!

32. Drivers of Degradation & Destruction of Wetlands
Aquaculture
Agriculture
Public Perception
Urban/Suburban Development
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