Ecological Character Description for the Proposed Macquarie Island Ramsar Site

The Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), commonly called the Ramsar Convention, maintains a List of Wetlands of International Importance to which Contracting Parties can nominate sites for inclusion. Australia, as a Contracting Party, has 65 listed Ramsar sites. This Ecological Character Description outlines and discusses the ecological character of Macquarie Island’s wetland ecosystems, as part of the required Australian Government documentation for the intended nomination of Macquarie Island as a Ramsar site by the Tasmanian and Australian Governments on the basis of its considerable wetland values. The island contains a wide range of wetland types, several of which are considerably under-represented in Australia’s Ramsar estate.