The
Ramsar Convention on WetlandsThe
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
World Wetlands Day, 2 February
What
is World Wetlands Day? 2
February each
year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention
on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores
of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, government agencies, non-governmental
organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken
advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions
aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general
and the Ramsar Convention in particular. From 1997 to 2007,
the Convention’s Web site has posted reports from more than 95 countries
of WWD activities of all sizes and shapes, from lectures and seminars,
nature walks, children’s art contests, sampan races, and community clean-up
days, to radio and television interviews and letters to newspapers, to the launch
of new wetland policies, new Ramsar sites, and new programmes at the national
level. Government agencies and private citizens from all over the world have
sent us their news, often with photographs, and these annual summaries and 900+
individual reports, with more than 1200 images, make an excellent archive of
ideas for future celebrations.
And each year since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat, with generous financial assistance from the private sector Danone Group, has offered a new selection of posters, stickers, videos, pocket calendars, leaflets and information packs free of charge and has suggested a unifying theme for the benefit of those who wish to use it. Here is a general guide to both the annual WWD index pages and the reports of each year's activities.
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Examples of the translation and local adaptation of Ramsar materials:
Since its
inception, the production and distribution of materials for World Wetlands Day
have been financially supported by the Evian Project funded by the Danone Group.
For
further information about World Wetlands Day or the 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 19 November 1999, updated 10 October 2008, Dwight Peck and Sandra
Hails, Ramsar.
