Ramsar Site
A
Ramsar Site is a wetland of international importance.
The Ramsar Convention was signed in the city of Ramsar, Iran,
in the 1971. there are presently (Apr 1997) 101 Contracting Parties which have
designated 872 wetland sites for the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International
Importance (i.e., "Ramsar sites"), covering about 62.5 million hectares
of surface area. Many countries are Contracting Parties, including Great Britain.
Signatories are committed to the designation of wetlands of international importance,
as defined by internationally agreed criteria.
There are 73 Ramsar sites designated or proposed in the UK.
For sites in England (361,000 hectares), new Government guidance
was announced on November 2000. Development of these sites will be allowed only
in the rarest circumstances. If, unusually, consent is given for development,
lost wetlands interest will have to be replaced, by restoring and recreating
habitats. Developers will have to agree and bear the cost of these compensatory
packages, under the 'polluter pays' principle. Other UK Ramsar sites are likely
to be subject to similar advice in the future. This is to give these sites 'broad
equivalence' to Natura 2000 sites (SACs
and SPAs).
And if you're wondering 'What does
RAMSAR stand for?' the answer is that it's the name of the city
the treaty was signed in. It is not an acronym at all.
Ramsar home page.
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