The Ramsar Convention Manual.pdf

2. A brief history of the Ramsar Convention
2.1 Background
The initial call for an international convention on wetlands came in 1962 during a conference which formed part of Project
MAR (from "MARshes", "MARicages", "MARismas"), a programme established in 1960 following concern at the rapidity with
which large stretches of marshland and other wetlands in Europe were being "reclaimed" or otherwise destroyed, with a
resulting decline in numbers of waterfowl.
The MAR Conference was organized by Dr Luc Hoffmann, with the participation of the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (now IUCN-The World Conservation Union), the International Waterfowl and
Wetlands Research Bureau, IWRB (now Wetlands International), and the International Council for Bird Preservation, ICBP
(now BirdLife International), and was held in Les Saintes Maries-de-la-Mer in the French Camargue, 12-16 November 1962.
Over the next eight years, a convention text was negotiated through a series of international technical meetings (St. Andrews,
1963; Noordwijk, 1966; Leningrad, 1968; Morges, 1968; Vienna, 1969; Moscow, 1969; Espoo, 1970), held mainly under the
auspices of IWRB, the guidance of Prof. G.V.T. Matthews, and the leadership of the Government of the Netherlands. Initially
the envisaged convention was directed specifically at the conservation of waterfowl through the creation of a network of
refuges, but as the text developed, especially with the expert advice of legal consultant Mr Cyrille de Klemm, conservation of
wetland habitat (rather than species) took prominence.
Finally, at an international meeting organized by Mr Eskander Firouz, Director of Iran's Game and Fish Department, and held in
the Caspian seaside resort of Ramsar in Iran, the text of the Convention was agreed on 2 February 1971 and signed by the
delegates of 18 nations the next day.
The Convention entered into force in December 1975, upon receipt by UNESCO, the Convention Depositary, of the seventh
instrument of accession to or ratification of the Convention, which came from Greece. The Convention celebrated its 30 ,h
anniversary in 2001 and now has Contracting Parties from all regions of the world.
Since its adoption, the Ramsar Convention has been modified on two occasions: by a protocol (a new treaty which amends the
original treaty) in December 1982, and by a series of amendments to the original treaty, known as the "Regina Amendments" of
1987.
2.2 The Paris Protocol and the Regina Amendments
The Paris Protocol was adopted at an Extraordinary Conference of the Contracting Parties which was held at UNESCO
headquarters in Paris in December 1982. The Protocol, which came into force in 1986, established a procedure for amending the
Convention (Article 10 bis) and adopted official versions of the treaty in Arabic, French, English, German, Russian and
Spanish. Almost all Contracting Parties have now accepted the Paris Protocol, and new Contracting Parties normally join the
Ramsar Convention as amended by the Paris Protocol and the Regina Amendments (Appendix 1).
The Regina Amendments are a series of amendments to Articles 6 and 7 that were accepted at an Extraordinary Conference of
the Contracting Parties (§3.1) held in Regina, Canada, in 1987. These did not affect the basic substantive principles of the
Convention, but related to its operation - briefly, the amendments defined the powers of the Conference of the Parties, established
an intersessional Standing Committee, and established both a permanent secretariat and a budget for the Convention.
These amendments came into force on 1 May 1994, although the Parties, in the spirit of Resolution 3.4 from the 1987 meeting,
observed the provisions of the amendments on a voluntary basis throughout the interim period.