Implementation of the Ramsar Convention on wetlands in Tasmania, Australia

Wetlands are extremely important ecosystems for biodiversity conservation and the wellbeing of humans. They contribute up to 40 percent of global annual renewable ecosystem services, yet cover less than three percent of the globe. Unfortunately, half of the world’s wetlands have been lost to human development and many lack sufficient conservation protection. As a consequence, many policy initiatives have been initiated to foster the protection of wetlands and wetland dependant species. Several Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) support global wetland conservation, the most well known being the intergovernmental Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), commonly known as the Ramsar Convention. Since its inception in the early 1970s, the Convention has played an important international role by providing a range of tools to assist those involved at various levels of wetland management. The Convention promotes its policies by engendering international cooperation and encouraging national action through obligations and assistance.