Implementation of the Ramsar Convention in the Americas

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The Convention on Wetlands, also known as the Ramsar Convention from the name of the city in Iran where it was signed in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation in the conservation and sustainable use of wetland biodiversity and resources. It is the first of the modern global conservation treaties and is still the only one devoted to a specific ecosystem. The Convention presently has 159 Contracting Parties (member countries), which have so far designated 1834 wetlands around the world, covering 161 million hectares, for the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The purpose of this grant is to assist the Ramsar Secretariat’s “Americas Regional Unit” by providing support services to the Contracting Parties for the implementation of the Ramsar Convention in the Americas region. To achieve this goal, the Recipient will 1) improve the process of designating and updating Ramsar sites, 2) provide support to individual sites in the Americas region that address a myriad of different issues, and 3) provide financial and administrative support for various regional meetings.

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