Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

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

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

Photos www.ramsar.org
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) http//www.ozestuaries.org/indicator
s/aqua_pressure.jsp
Photo US Fish and Wildlife Service
http//www.fws.gov/midwest/saginawNRDA/restore.htm
l
Photo http//www.ecopix.net/natresmanage/natresma
nage.htm
Photo www.nrcs.usda.gov/ wetlands/wildrice.jpg
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

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

Photo http//www.coastal.crc.org.au/wetlands/imag
es/riparian2.gif
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

Photo http//www.ruggedelegantliving.com/a/images
/Hurricane.Katrina.Help.jpg
Photo http//www.katrinahelp. com/hurricane-katri
na-2.jpg
Photohttp//www.rotary5470.org/IMupload/yaht20cl
ub.jpeg
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

Photo http//www.foxnews.com/photo_essay/photoess
ay_566_images/katrina_redcross_450.jpg
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

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Implications of Pollution

• Decreased water quality
• Bioaccumulation of toxins in wetland species
• Decline in native plant, fish, and waterfowl
  populations
• Eutrophication of wetlands

Photo http//www.midwestadvocates.org/media/advoc
acyupdates/2004/Advocacy20Update20August202004/
fishkillpicture.jpg
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So What Happens?
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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."

(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

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

Photo www.ramsar.org
16

• Conference of Parties (COP) 9 Resolution
  IX.4-Annex
• The Ramsar Convention and Conservation,
  Production and Sustainable Use of Fisheries
  Resources

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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

Photo www.corila.it/images/ligneCWC3.jpg
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1. Sustainable management of wetland ecosystems
for fisheries

• Wise use and maintenance of ecological
  structure of wetlands

Photos www.ramsar.org
19
Implementation Wise Use Framework

• The Ramsar Toolkit
• 14 handbooks on how to implement the Ramsar
  Convention

Photos www.ramsar.org
20
2. Increased International Cooperation

• Salmon migration
• Chum
• Chinook
• Sockeye

Source www.sookesalmonenhancementsociety.com
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3. Improvements to information on the status of
fisheries in Ramsar sites

• Salmon Indicators at Izembek National Wildlife
  Refuge1st U.S. RAMSAR site
• Important salmon spawning ground
• Require pure, well-oxygenated cold water
• Indicators
• abundance
• genetic diversity
• geographic distribution
• stage of lifecycle

Photo www.mms.gov
22
Controversies Related to Wetland
Destruction/Ramsar COP 9 Policies

• Mitigated wetlands
• Cross-border cooperation on ecological goals

Photo www.ramsar.org
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

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Past Losses and Mitigation
Image http//www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Conservati
onAndEnvironment/images/WETLANDLOSS.gif
25
2. Cross-Border Resource Management

• 5 of 22 US Ramsar sites span state or
  international borders

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

Photo www.dorf.rwth-aachen.de
27
Priority Indicators2006-2008

• Overall conservation status of wetlands
• Water-related indicator(s)
• Overall population trends of wetland taxa

Source www.ramsar.org
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

Photo www.nationalgeographic.com
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
Photos http//www.ozestuaries.org/indicators/aqua
_pressure.jsp http//www.ecopix.net/natresmanage/n
atresmanage.htm http//www.fws.gov/midwest/saginaw
NRDA/restore.html http//www.nrcs.usda.gov/wetland
s/wildrice.jpg