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WATER COOPERATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND POVERTY ERADICATIONeventually led to the establishment of the first modern environmentalcooperation treaty. Eighteen countries sent their plenipotentiarygovernmental delegations to an international conference in theIranian seaside resort of Ramsar, at the shores of the Caspian Sea(itself a globally important wetland), to sign an intergovernmentaltext, based on the shared confidence that far-sighted national policiesand coordinated international action are needed to maintainand to manage in a sustainable way these important ecologicalsystems that were longtime neglected, drained and destroyed. Thenew treaty with a global reach, signed in Ramsar on 3 February1971 was the first of its kind. It is since colloquially known as the‘Ramsar Convention on Wetlands’. Today, it is rapidly reachingits full global coverage. Already, its member states have togetherlisted more than 2100 ‘Wetlands of International Importance’ (alsoknown as Ramsar Sites), in more than 165 countries, and coveringtogether well beyond 200 million hectares. The Ramsar Sites formthe largest network of protected areas across the globe.Wetlands are the earth’s natural water infrastructure. They providea clean source and store of freshwater, thus assuring the securityof water supply in dry regions and during drought seasons, whileinversely also mitigating flood and storm damage through their waterretention capacities. During the international year of water cooperation,the message on World Wetlands Day (2 February 2013) wasclear: wetlands take care of water – they provide the natural infrastructureto capture, filter, store, transport and release water. Wetlandsare the critical arteries in the water cycle, the hydrological cycle thatkeeps human societies supplied with water. Rain evaporates rapidlyand returns back into the atmosphere, as long as it is not soaked upin fertile soils, feeds underground aquifers and finishes insprings or is stored in all sorts of wetland types. Almosteverywhere, our drinking water resources are deliveredthrough wetlands. And our local communities, as wellas urban societies, profit from specific wetland ecosystemservices, such as water purification, retention andrelease, and the production of wetland food, fish andfibre. Wetlands help with erosion control and sedimenttransport, thereby contributing to land formation andincreasing resilience to storms. The final Rio+20 declarationon ‘the future we want’, clearly recognizes the roleof ecosystems in the supply of water and its quality.The Ramsar Convention in particular encourages andobliges its member states to cooperate when it comesto wetlands and river basins that are shared betweenneighbouring countries, concerning shared species thatmigrate from one country to the next, and concerningdevelopment projects that might affect wetlands in aneighbouring or third country. The Ramsar Conventioncreated and continues to support the global concernand the recognition of a shared responsibility for theseecosystems that provide us with multiple benefits forlarge cities as well as rural communities. Over the years,the Convention has elaborated operational tools on howto integrate wetland site management for the benefitof the functioning of specific ecosystems within broadscaleenvironmental planning at the scales of entireriver basins and coastal areas. Tools designed to clarifyImage: T.Salathé/RamsarConfluence of the Morava with the Danube seen from Devin castle, Slovakia, part of the Transboundary Ramsar Site ‘Floodplains of the Morava-Dyje-Danube confluence’[ 249 ]