Claudia Fenerol

Senior Advisor to Secretary General

Coordinator, Partnership Programme

Ramsar Convention Secretariat

e-mail: fenerol@ramsar.org

The Ramsar Convention and the

Conservation and Wise Use of

Forested Wetlands

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

Introduction Wetlands under Ramsar

C Wetlands are ‘water related ecosystems, including a wide range of wetland types, found ‘from the mountains to the sea

Human-made wetlands:Rice fields, fish ponds, reservoirs, ditches and canals

Inland WetlandsSnowfields, lakes, marshes, rivers, streams, flooded caves, aquifers, chott, oasis, wadis

Coastal WetlandsSabkhas, mangroves, tidal flats, sea grass beds, coral reefs, estuaries, up to 6m at low tide

Wetland ecosystem services

Provision: water, food, biodiversity,

Regulate: floods and drought

Support: soil formation, nutrient cycling,

Culture: recreation, spiritual, education, tourism and business

Natural infrastructures:

• important part of the water cycle

• stores and delivers water

• Natural purification role

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

MissionThe conservation and wise use of wetlands through national actions, and international cooperation as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development.

• Adopted on 2 February, 1971

• First of the modern intergovernmental environmental agreements

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 transboundarysites

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

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.

Ramsar Sites with forested wetlands

Number of Ramsar Sites

Area of Ramsar Sites

Number with wetland type

dominant

Area with wetland type

dominant

Intertidal forested wetlands, e.g. mangrove swamps, nipah swamps and tidal freshwater swamp forests.

250 27,087,928 91 9,103,810

Forested peatlands, e.g. peat forests.218 18,728,640 57 1,094,832

Freshwater, tree-dominated wetlands, e.g. includes freshwater swamp forests, seasonally flooded forests, wooded swamps on inorganic soils.

416 55,688,464 82 12,928,113

Total (%)(containing any one type of forested wetland)

716 (35.8%)

83,546,275(43.5%)

214 (10.7%)

22,786,503(11.9%)

TOTAL Ramsar Sites 2,000 192,138,388

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)

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;

• 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.

Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta Ramsar Site ( Columbia)

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)

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)

Carbon storage capacity

Economic value of forests

Forested wetlands in Brunei

‘International Symposium on the Conservation and Wise Use of Mangroves in Southeast Asia’(2003, Bander Seri Begawan,

Brunei Darussalam)

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

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

Selirong Forest Recreation Park

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

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).

”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....

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

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...