Digital Journal Element 5

International Conservation and Management of Waterfowl 

AEWA: The African/Eurasian Waterbird Agreement

The AEWA is an international agreement to protect migratory waterfowl and shorebirds simalar to the North American Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. This act was developed by the convention working under the United Nations. This convention was the result of conference of the nations on the Human Environment. Their discussion resulted in the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. The convention was held with the intention "to provide conservation for migratory terrestrial, marine, and avian species". It is impossible to conserve migratory species without international cooperation because, "failure to conserve these species at any particular stage of their life cycle could adversely affect any conservation efforts elsewhere(UNEP). The treaty includes the countreis of "Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago."(UNEP) The agreement includes "119 range states" and "71 countries in European Union." (UNEP) This covers a large portion of the stopover sites in the Palearctic Flyway. The convention decided to prepare the treaty in 1988 and adopted the agreement in 1995. Under the treaty, conservation plans are developed for species of special concern. Countries that have joined the agreement also must promote environmental education and outreach programs. The AEWA is governed by the "Meeting of parties"(UNEP). They have two subcommitees, the standing and technical committee.The standing committee is responsible for directing MOP operations. The technical committe is responsible for prooviding scientific advice to problems. The secretariat for both the UNEP and the AEWA assists in agreements and supportive services. The first secrateriat was seated in 1995 as well. By 1999 theagreement had reached the right proportion of states to come into effect. A permenant secratry was elected in the year 2000. The AEWA is also responsible for the creation of World Migratory Bird Day, a day that encourages the education of the public on migratory birds and the conservation issues surrounding them.

Ramsar Convention for Waterfowl and Wetlands 

The Ramsar convention is an international treaty aimed at conserving wetlands and their resources. The convention has the goal of encouraging wise use of wetland habitats. Ramsar delineates this as "Wise use of wetlands is defined as the maintenance of their ecological character, achieved through the implementation of ecosystem approaches, within the context of sustainable development." The conference also discussed how wetland perform important ecosystem functions. There are three commitments involved in the agreement are
"Work towards the wise use of all their wetlands through national land-use planning, appropriate policies and legislation, management actions, and public education.Designate suitable wetlands for the List of Wetlands of International Importance("Ramsar List") and ensure their effective management; and Cooperate internationally concerning transboundary wetlands, shared wetland systems, shared species, and development projects that may affect wetlands."(Ramsar). The Ramsar convention was intially mentioned at a conference held in 1962 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the Internatinal Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau in response to a project  developed in response to the degradation of European wetlands. The final text of the Convention was decided upon in 1971. The convention started operation in 1975. 

"Ramsar recognizes five general types of wetlands: 

• marine (coastal wetlands including coastal lagoons, rocky shores, and 
coral reefs);
• estuarine (including deltas, tidal marshes, and mangrove swamps);
• lacustrine (wetlands associated with lakes);
• riverine (wetlands along rivers and streams); and
• palustrine (meaning “marshy” – marshes, swamps and bogs)."(Ramsar)

A Ramsar site is an area that has features that have been identified in "Criteria for Idenifying Wetlands of International Importance", literature that the convention adopted in 1999 as quoted from it's text, "to guide implementation of Article 2.1 on desination of Ramsar sites. This document lists nine criteria including"
 "Group A of the Criteria. Sites containing representative, rare or unique wetland types
Criterion 1: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it contains a representative, rare, or unique example of a natural or near-natural wetland type found within the appropriate biogeographic region.

Group B of the Criteria. Sites of international importance for conserving biological diversity

Criteria based on species and ecological communities

Criterion 2: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities.
Criterion 3: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region.
Criterion 4: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.

Specific criteria based on waterbirds

Criterion 5: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.
Criterion 6: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbird.

Specific criteria based on fish

Criterion 7: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies, species or families, life-history stages, species interactions and/or populations that are representative of wetland benefits and/or values and thereby contributes to global biological diversity.
Criterion 8: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.

Specific criteria based on other taxa

Criterion 9: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of wetland-dependent non-avian animal species."(Ramsar 1999)

Wetlands International

Wetlands international is an international group, stationed in the Netherlands with branches all over the world. They focus on preserving peatlands, coastal restoration, waterfowl conservation, reducing disaster impacts, and building a wetland database. The group states on their website that they, "Conserve waterbirds by, collecting and analyzing data, promoting joint actions, advocating best practices, and raising awareness." the groups is responsible for the the International Waterbird Census, a census that has been completed annually at over 20,000 sites with over a hundred countries. This census has produced a large data set of population estimates for the 4 main regions, Africa-Eurasia, Asia-Pacific, Caribbean, and the Neotropics. they also monitor avian diseases and their spread across the globe, particularly avian flu.


Literature Cited

AEWA Secretariat. 2006. African- Eurasian Waterbird Agreement Website. UNEP/AEWA. <http://www.unep-aewa.org/about/background.htm>


Ramsar Convention Secretariat, 2013. The Ramsar Convention Manual: a guide to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), 6th ed. Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Gland, Switzerland

Wetlands International Head Office <http://www.wetlands.org/Whatwedo/Savingwaterbirds/Monitoringwaterbirdpopulations/tabid/773/Default.aspx>