The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

The Wise Use Resource Centre

The Wise Use Resource Library 

Note: The "wise use" principle inscribed in Article 3.1 of the Convention in 1971, and its definition and application by the Conference of the Contracting Parties, have been established and have evolved completely independently from the so-called "wise use movement" that has emerged in recent years in North America. The use of the same term does not necessarily indicate that there is a commonality of understanding and/or purpose.

National Wetland Policies and Strategic Plans

Other government policies and statements on wetlands

Argentina: Politica Ambiental, Provincia del Chaco, 2005
Costa Rica: Canon por Concepto de Aprovechamiento de Aguas, 2006
United Kingdom policy statement for Ramsar sites in England, 2000
United Kingdom policy statement for Ramsar sites in Wales (English) (Welsh), 2001

Wetland site management plans [reprints]

Albania: Karvasta Lagoon, 1996
Australia: Towra Point, 2001
Botswana: Okavango Delta Management Plan, 2008 (2.8MB PDF)
Bulgaria: Srebarna, 2000
China: Dongzhaigang National Nature Reserve, Hainan, 1999
Ecuador: Laguna de Cube, 2002
India: Wular Lake, Kashmir, 2007 (6.9MB PDF)
Russian Federation: Karaginsky Island, Kamchatka, 2000
Thailand, Nong Bong Kai Wetland Management Plan (PDF)

Wetland inventories

Democratic Republic of Congo: Rapid wetland inventory, 2008 (PDF)

Law and legislation, international and national

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: has it made a difference? (2002), Michael Bowman
Rehabilitating nature: a comparative review of legal mechanisms that encourage wetland restoration efforts (2003), Royal C. Gardner
The Ramsar Convention comes of age (1995), M. J. Bowman
Rebuttal to "Wise use of wetlands under the Ramsar Convention: A challenge for meaningful implementation of international law" (2001), Bill Phillips
The United States Clean Water Act
Review of Policy and Legislative Support to the Sustainable use of Wetlands in Namibia with specific Reference to the Zambezi River Basin, by Shirley Bethune and Oliver C Ruppel (2007)
Ramsar soft law is not soft at all: discussion of the 2007 decision by the Netherlands Crown on the Lac Ramsar site on the island of Bonaire, by Jonathan Verschuuren (2008)

Other

A Short History of Waterbird Conservation, by Eckhart Kuijken; from Waterbirds around the world (2006)
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: assessment of international designations within the United States (2007), Royal C. Gardner and Kim Diana Connolly
Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar sites) in Canada: survey of Ramsar site managers, 2007, by Pauline Lynch-Stewart (2008)
The Ramsar Convention: Measuring its Effectiveness for Conserving Wetlands of International Importance, an independent report (2002), Gonzalo Castro, Kenneth Chomitz, and Timothy S. Thomas, The World Bank and World Wildlife Fund
Managing tourism in wetlands - some useful resources
Restoration of wetlands - some useful resources

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 2 February 1998, updated 19 September 2008, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.