Today it’s World Wetlands Day, an event that celebrates a landmark in wetland conservation. The Ramsar Convention was agreed in the Iranian town of Ramsar on 2 February 1971.
The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especial as Waterfowl Habitat (to give it its full name) has put wetland conservation on the global stage and brought commitments from Government’s around the world to protect wetlands and wetland systems. It developed the concept of wise use and has been hugely influential in promoting the protection of wetlands.
So has it worked? What is certain is that without it the picture for wetlands worldwide would be bleak indeed. It has driven the direct protection of many wetlands and been influential in the development of legal systems that have been more or less effective.
But here we are just two weeks from the start of a public inquiry into the expansion of Lydd airport and its impact on Dungeness (which is a Ramsar site) we have threats on the Thames (I’ll come back to the Thames in a minute), the Humber, the Mersey, Severn and the Wash.
On the other side of the world the destruction of coastal wetlands is extreme. The loss of wetlands like Saemangeum in South Korea is happening in the face of much opposition – the consequences the destruction sites like this will be profound both to coastal communities and the ‘waterfowl’ that was put at the heart of the Ramsar Convention. Spoon-billed sandpipers are being brought to the edge of extinction mainly because of the loss of the wetlands they need to complete their migrations.
So happy birthday Ramsar – your work is not done.
I said I’d come back to the Thames. Every few weeks there is a flurry of press interest in one or other version of a proposal to plonk a major airport in the Thames. This is not new. Back in the 1960s the first proposal for an airport in the Thames forced a recognition that we simply didn’t have the facts and figures to mount an effective argument. The proposal then fell because it was economically bonkers, but it lead directly to the setting up of monitoring through the Birds of Estuaries Enquiry which now is continued through the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBs). Making birds count fed directly into the Ramsar Convention – and forty years on, we’re still arguing the case against bonkers airport proposals. But things are different, the Thames is better protected, we have good data and the vital involvement of communities like the Friends of North Kent Marshes.
I’d like to finish by paying tribute to the army of volunteers who month in and month out count our waders and wildfowl on wetlands across the UK. The WeBs counters are the unsung heroes of wetland conservation and their role will need more now than ever.
And if you fancy seeing what all the fuss was about - why not visit a wetland nature reserve?
If you can help us to continue to protect and restore the peatlands of the Flow Country in Caithness and Sutherland - you can read more about our appeal here.
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Friends of the North Kent Marshes strapline is 'Conservation and Communities United' and this has never been more important than it is today
We join you in celebrating the legal protections afforded to our internationally important wildlife sites
As you say the Thames has more protection on it than ever before. But there are various threats to the Thames Estuary such as new airports and a new Lower Thames Crossing (the East of Gravesend route, preferred by KCC, is the most environmentally damaging option of those currently on the tabs).
It is precisely because of ill thought out plans such as these that the conservation laws are in place and why we join you in celebrating World Wetlands Day
Friends of the North Kent Marshes
Conservation and Communities United