1. The Ramsar Convention and the
Conservation and Wise Use of
Forested Wetlands
Claudia Fenerol
Senior Advisor to Secretary General
Coordinator, Partnership Programme
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
e-mail: fenerol@ramsar.org

2. Today’s presentation
• Discuss wetland forests
• Provide overview of the Ramsar
Convention
• Discuss the value of wetland forests and
why they are important in the context of
the Convention and its mission
• Highlight special aspects of the
Convention and Forested Wetlands and
the ecosystem services derived from
wetlands

3. Introduction Wetlands under Ramsar
C
Wetlands are ‘water related
ecosystems, including a wide
range of wetland types, found
‘from the mountains to the sea
Inland Wetlands
Snowfields, lakes, marshes,
rivers, streams, flooded caves,
aquifers, chott, oasis, wadis
Coastal Wetlands
Sabkhas, mangroves, tidal flats,
sea grass beds, coral reefs,
estuaries, up to 6m at low tide
Human-made wetlands:
Rice fields, fish ponds,
reservoirs, ditches and canals

4. Wetland ecosystem services
Natural infrastructures:
Provision: water, food, biodiversity,
• important part of the water cycle
• stores and delivers water Support: soil formation, nutrient
• Natural purification role cycling,
Regulate: floods and drought
Culture: recreation, spiritual,
education, tourism and
business

5. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
• Adopted on 2 February, 1971
• First of the modern intergovernmental
environmental agreements
Mission
The conservation and wise use of wetlands
through national actions, and international
cooperation as a contribution towards
achieving sustainable development.
3-pillars
• Wise use (sustainable) use of all wetlands;
• Designation of priority wetlands as Wetlands of
International Importance (Ramsar Sites);
• International cooperation for shared wetlands
and their resources, including transboundary
sites

6. Ramsar and forested wetlands
Wise use (sustainable) use of wetlands
• The Ramsar Convention has many practical guidelines and
COP resolutions on the conservation and wise use of
wetlands;
• Well-known independent scientific and technical panel
produce handbooks and guidelines
• Members of the Ramsar family have significance experience
in the conservation and management of wetlands, particularly
forested wetlands.
• Large programme on communication, education public
awareness and training
• World Wetlands Day 2010 - Wetland Forests

7. Forested wetlands
Often - think of forests as normally dry, but
some are wet always, or at particular times.
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands recognizes
three types of such
forested wetlands:
•Intertidal forested wetlands;
•Forested peatlands/peat bogs;
•Freshwater, tree dominated wetlands.

8. Ramsar Sites with forested wetlands
Number with Area with
Number of Area of
wetland type wetland type
Ramsar Sites Ramsar Sites
dominant dominant
Intertidal forested wetlands, e.g. mangrove
swamps, nipah swamps and tidal freshwater 250 27,087,928 91 9,103,810
swamp forests.
Forested peatlands, e.g. peat forests.
218 18,728,640 57 1,094,832
Freshwater, tree-dominated wetlands, e.g.
includes freshwater swamp forests,
416 55,688,464 82 12,928,113
seasonally flooded forests, wooded swamps
on inorganic soils.
Total (%) 716 83,546,275 214 22,786,503
(containing any one type of forested wetland) (35.8%) (43.5%) (10.7%) (11.9%)
TOTAL Ramsar Sites 2,000 192,138,388

9. Convention today
• 160 governments designated2000 sites
• 192,138,388 hectares – 43 % wet forest
• Only global network of wetland
ecosystems
• Many sites jointly World Heritage and
Man and Biosphere (UNESCO)

10. 1. Intertidal forested wetlands
• The Convention defines intertidal forest wetlands
as: mangrove swamps, nipah swamps and tidal
freshwater swamp forests…
• Values: Mangroves forests estimated to generate
US$ 2,000 – 9,000 /hectare/year;
• Impact/loss: From 1980 to 2005, the area of
mangroves worldwide decreased by 20% for
aqua- and agriculture, and urban expansion;
Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta Ramsar Site ( Columbia)
• Vietnam has invested US$ 1 million to plant
12,000 ha of mangroves and so saved US$7
million annually on coastal protection
• NB Rate of loss declining due to greater awareness of
their value in acting as a carbon sink helping to mitigate
impacts from climate change; along with their intrinsic
value as spawning ground for fisheries; supplying fish
and timber products; protecting shorelines etc.

11. 2. Forested peatlands
Forested peatlands
•Unique habitats formed by a deep layer of soft
organic material, formed over thousands of years in
waterlogged conditions;
•Peatlands cover only 3-4% of global land area but
are a very important carbon sink holding 25-30% of
the carbon in terrestrial ecosystems, twice as much
as the world’s forests; on the other hand their
drainage and conversion to other uses is an
important source of carbon emissions;
•Forested peatlands are valuable for:
-Supporting biodiversity. Berbak Ramsar Site
(Indonesia) has flagship species such as Sumatran
tiger and Malay tapir;
-Maintaining water quality and in water storage.
Losiny Ostrov National Park (Russia)

12. 3. Freshwater, tree dominated wetlands
Freshwater, tree dominated wetlands
•Found worldwide
•Forests that are either permanently or
seasonally flooded with freshwater;
• At certain times of year, the Orinoco
River overflows its banks and forms
‘Várzea’ swamp forests that supports
fisheries (>1,000 species of fish), and
many are threatened species.
• On the seasonal retreat of the water,
the fertile land is used by cattle
ranchers and farmers.
Cypress swamp (USA)

13. Carbon storage capacity

14. Economic value of forests

15. Forested wetlands in Brunei
In 2010, Mahmood Yussof (Deputy Director,
Forestry Department), was quoted as saying
(Brunei Times) that Brunei supported:
•wetland forests covered 121,000 ha;
•equivalent to 30% of total forest cover in
Brunei.
•Value of research, tourism, ecosystem
services Selirong Forest Recreation Park
Area of forested wetlands include about:
•20,000 ha of mangrove forests, and;
•100,000 ha of peatlands.
•This covers 17% of the land area and is
probably the best quality, intact peat swamp
in SE Asia.
•Valuable wetlands – long term value not
short term gains ‘International Symposium on the
Conservation and Wise Use of
Mangroves in Southeast Asia’
(2003, Bander Seri Begawan,
Brunei Darussalam)

16. Tourism and Wetlands
• World Wetlands Day 2012 Wetlands and
Tourism
• About 60 percent of tourism is on or around a
wetland
• 11th Conference of the Parties theme is
Wetlands – Recreation and Tourism
• The Conference will take place in Bucharest,
Romania, 6-14 July 2012

17. Ramsar and forested wetlands
Designation of priority wetlands as Ramsar Sites
•Ramsar’s 160 Contracting Parties have designated
2,000 Ramsar Sites;
•Largest network of protected sites worldwide;
•> 35% of these sites contain forested wetlands and
> 10% are dominated by forested wetlands.
International cooperation
•Opportunities for regional cooperation on the
conservation and wise use of forested wetlands;
•8 of the 10 ASEAN countries are Ramsar Contracting
Parties;
•MoU with the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB).

18. ”Failure to plan is a plan for failure” anonymous quote
Vision 40+
Defined 3 core values for future
1. Wetlands are a key infrastructure for ecosystem services
– Particularly water-related services
– Vital services provided by water should be conserved
– Strategic goal: need to mainstream wise use of wetlands
to other sectors and throughout society
– Operationally – communication and awareness raising....

19. Vision 40+ Roadmap
Priorities for Partnerships set out on basis of knowledge and experience of
Secretariat
1. Wetlands – water and agriculture (water and food security and water use
and quality)
2. Wetlands/water and the extractive /energy industry
3. Wetlands/water and climate change mitigation (carbon storage) and
adaptation
4. Wetlands – water and social protection (human health and disaster
prevention/management)
5. Scientific partnerships – eg GWOS - state of the world’s wetlands
6. Wetlands/water and urbanization
7. Wetlands and integrated water management

20. Vision 40+
3. Wetlands make a concrete and measureable contribution to
human societies
• Goal: Need to clarify link between healthy wetlands and
quantity and quality of water
• Operationally: develop tools - metrics and valuation of
wetlands to demonstrate value and cost of the loss
– TEEB of Wetlands – and economics of wetlands
– Identifying state of world wetlands – GWOS...