Ramsar Convention

The Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation on the conservation and wise (ie sustainable) use of wetlands. It is one of the oldest global intergovernmental environmental treaties and originated in the 1960s with recognition of the urgent need to safeguard wetland habitats and the species that depend upon both inland and coastal and nearshore marine systems (www.ramsar.org). 127 countries are party to the convention at (September 2001) and 1,089 separate wetlands covering more than 84 million hectares have been designated as wetlands of international importance. The UK signed the convention in 1976 and has 150 wetlands of international importance. Despite the many advances made since its inception, however, only a relatively small proportion of the world's wetlands is yet afforded the better protection and management that derives from designation, and in many countries adequate detailed information about wetlands and their condition is still lacking.

The Ramsar Convention focuses specifically on safeguarding the natural environment of wetlands and Ramsar sites are designated for their significance in terms of ecology, botany, zoology, limnology, and hydrology. The Convention has also long recognised the vital importance of people and their wetland heritage in achieving its goals. Much of Europe's wealth of archaeological and cultural heritage is closely associated with the great natural richness of our wetlands and many peoples throughout the world continue to depend on wetland resources for water, food, and other materials, as well as their many vital functions for safeguarding human health. However, despite a clear recognition of the importance of the cultural heritage in all its different forms (physical structures and artefacts of the past, palaeontological records of environmental and climate change, traditional water and land-use management practices, religious significance, and 'sense of place' for these often mysterious places and their wildlife), the Convention does not allow for site designation under specifically cultural terms.

Existing Ramsar sites contain an enormous wealth of cultural and archaeological material. It is therefore vitally important that the cultural heritage of these sites is properly identified and documented, and that cultural heritage and archaeological values and factors are incorporated in management plans and management action. Only in this way will the archaeological heritage gain any advantage from the undoubted benefits of sympathetic management regimes that ultimately derive from Ramsar designation. English Heritage has now established a very close working relationship with the Ramsar Bureau and we are taking the lead in a number of important initiatives.

Through the offices of the Bureau we are participating in consultations on the draft Global Action Plan for Peatlands which is being developed through the International Peat Society (IPS) and the International Mires Conservation Group. We are contributing to a survey of National Wetland Policies in Europe and revised guidelines for management planning on Ramsar sites and other wetlands. English Heritage has been asked to deliver a keynote paper at the upcoming European Regional Meeting of the Ramsar Convention for a technical session on the subject of Cultural aspects of wetlands as a tool for their conservation and sustainable use. Working with our colleagues in the EAC we will also be developing high-level guidance on the principles of archaeological heritage management in wetlands, for incorporation in the Ramsar Toolkit of management guidance. In the longer term we have been asked to develop a handbook of good practice for the management of the historic environment in wetlands for use by Ramsar site managers.

The importance of cultural values in wetlands will receive an even higher profile at the next full Ramsar Conference of Parties, in 2002, when the theme will be Wetlands: water, life, and culture. We have been asked to lead a major session at the conference which we hope will be the precursor to the formal adoption of management guidelines for the historic environment, together with a resolution confirming the significance of the historic environment in wetlands, and the need for its sympathetic management. Through all these, and other related initiatives, we will be striving to promote the interests of the historic environment and to extend our influence on an international scale with the single most influential nature conservation agency responsible for wetlands.