The
Ramsar Convention on WetlandsThe
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Under-represented wetland types in the Ramsar "List of Wetlands of International Importance"
Mangroves
and the Ramsar Convention
For
more than 30 years, the Ramsar Convention has been the principal instrument
for international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
Adopted in Iran in 1971, it was the first of the modern global conservation
treaties, and is still the only one dedicated to a particular ecosystem type.
Parties to the Convention have committed themselves to designating all of
their "suitable wetlands", based upon criteria developed over the years, for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International
Importance (the "Ramsar List")
and maintaining their ecological character through management planning for
their conservation and sustainable use.
Mangroves
Mangrove swamps are forested intertidal ecosystems that occupy sediment-rich sheltered tropical coastal environments, occurring from about 32ºN (Bermuda) to almost 39ºS (Victoria, Australia). Around two-thirds to three-quarters of tropical coastlines are mangrove-lined. Mangroves carry out critical functions related to the regulation of fresh water, nutrients, and sediment inputs into marine areas. By trapping and stabilizing fine sediments they control the quality of marine coastal waters. They are also exceptionally important in maintaining coastal food webs and populations of animals that live as adults elsewhere and depend upon the mangrove at different stages of their life cycle, such as birds, fish, and crustaceans. Mangroves have an important role in pollution control through their absorptive capacity for organic pollutants and nutrients, and they play an important role in storm protection and coastal stabilization.
A large proportion of the world's mangrove resource has been degraded by unsustainable exploitation practices; habitat destruction; changes in hydrology due to stream diversions for irrigation and dam construction; and pollution, including industrial and sewage effluents and chronic or catastrophic oil spills. Mangroves are particularly vulnerable to oil pollution and increased coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and natural events such as hurricanes, frosts, tsunamis, and human-induced climate change.
Mangroves
occur under Marine/Coastal Wetlands: I (Intertidal forested wetlands) in the
Ramsar Classification System for Wetland Type.
The
Ramsar Secretariat's lead person on mangrove issues is Margarita Astrálaga, astralaga@ramsar.org. |
Ramsar Resolutions and Recommendations most directly related to mangroves
Other
mangrove-related links
Pacific
Island Mangroves in a Changing Climate and Rising Sea. UNEP, 2006
(PDF) |
Mangrove
restoration Web site (R. Lewis) |
"The
Status of Mangrove Ecosystems: Trends in the Utilisation and Management
of Mangrove Resources", D. Macintosh and S. Zisman |
News
and Other Items on the Ramsar Web site
(reverse chronology)
Teachers'
workshop on mangrove ecology, Guatemala, April 2006 |
Capacity
building in mangrove-based communities in Kenya, project report,
July 2005 |
|
Handbook
of Mangroves in the Philippines - Panay, published 2004 |
International
Symposium on Conservation and Wise Use of Mangroves in Southeast Asia,
Brunei Darussalam, 6-8 October 2003 (reported by Reiko Nakamura) |
Government-designated
Expert Workshop on Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies for
the Sustainable Management of Mangrove Forests in Latin America and
the Wider Caribbean, Managua, Nicaragua, 3-5 March 2003 (reported
by Margarita Astrálaga) |
“The
Role of the Ramsar Convention in Mangrove Management”, Peter
R. Bacon, reprint from Intercoast Network: International Newsletter
of Coastal Management (1997) |
The
Mangrove Action Project, Alfredo Quarto & Kate Cissna (1997) |
Community
Participation in Mangrove Forest Management and Rehabilitation in Southern
Thailand, Paul Erftemeijer & Rebecca D'Cruz (1997) |
The mangrove
forest: background paper, Alfredo Quarto, Mangrove Action Project
(1997) |
"The
Sundarbans", Zakir Hussain, case study in Wetlands, Biodiversity
and the Ramsar Convention (1996) |
"Mangroves
of Hinchinbrook Island", Joanna Ellison, case study in Wetlands,
Biodiversity and the Ramsar Convention (1996) |
"Sustainable
management of mangroves in the Indus Delta, Pakistan", Peter
John Meynell & M. Tahir Qureshi, case study in Towards the Wise
Use of Wetlands (1993) |
"Wise use and restoration of mangrove and marine resources in the Central Visayas Region of the Philippines", Lyndo Villacorta & Jeroen C.J. van Wetten, case study in Towards the Wise Use of Wetlands (1993) |
"The mangrove forests of Sierpe, Costa Rica", Enrique Lahmann, case study in Towards the Wise Use of Wetlands (1993) |
Ramsar Sites in which Intertidal Forested Wetlands (type I) -- including mangrove swamps -- are significantly present
(The above list is current as of August 2006.)
For detailed and up-to-date information on Ramsar Sites, use the Ramsar Sites Information Service search facilities on the Ramsar Sites Database (http://www.wetlands.org/rsis/) maintained by Wetlands International.
Adobe
PDF format |
(The above list is current as of February 2006.)
Additional background
For
further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact
the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196
Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail 
).
Posted 28 March 2004, updated 24 July 2006, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.
