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Ramsar Sites Classification - Appendix7

The document defines wetlands according to the Ramsar Convention as areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water that are permanent or temporary and outlines Ramsar's system for classifying wetland types. It lists 13 inland wetland types and 9 human-made wetland types. The document also describes 8 criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance under Ramsar, including sites that support vulnerable species, populations important for biodiversity, or species at critical stages in their life cycles. A wetland can also be considered internationally important if it regularly supports over 20,000 waterbirds or 1% of the individuals in a waterbird population.

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27 views3 pages

Ramsar Sites Classification - Appendix7

The document defines wetlands according to the Ramsar Convention as areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water that are permanent or temporary and outlines Ramsar's system for classifying wetland types. It lists 13 inland wetland types and 9 human-made wetland types. The document also describes 8 criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance under Ramsar, including sites that support vulnerable species, populations important for biodiversity, or species at critical stages in their life cycles. A wetland can also be considered internationally important if it regularly supports over 20,000 waterbirds or 1% of the individuals in a waterbird population.

Uploaded by

Indra Yustian
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Appendix 7.

Ramsar Wetland Definition, Classification


and Criteria for Internationally Important Wetlands

Ramsar Definition of a Wetland


Definition

Under the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) ‘wetlands’ are defined by Articles 1.1 and 2.1 as shown
below:
Article 1.1:

‘For the purpose of this Convention wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural
or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including
areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.’

Article 2.1 provides that wetlands:

‘may incorporate riparian and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine
water deeper than six metres at low tide lying within the wetlands’.

Ramsar Wetland Classification


The wetland types listed below are from the
‘Ramsar Classification System for Wetland Type as approved by Recommendation 4.7 and amended by
Resolution VI.5 of the Conference of the Contracting Parties. The categories listed herein are intended to
provide only a very broad framework to aid rapid identification of the main wetland habitats represented at each
site.’

Marine/Coastal Wetlands – not listed here

Inland Wetlands
L -- Permanent inland deltas.
M -- Permanent rivers/streams/creeks; includes waterfalls.
N -- Seasonal/intermittent/irregular rivers/streams/creeks.
O -- Permanent freshwater lakes (over 8 ha); includes large oxbow lakes.
P -- Seasonal/intermittent freshwater lakes (over 8 ha); includes floodplain lakes.
Q -- Permanent saline/brackish/alkaline lakes.
R -- Seasonal/intermittent saline/brackish/alkaline lakes and flats.
Sp -- Permanent saline/brackish/alkaline marshes/pools.
Ss -- Seasonal/intermittent saline/brackish/alkaline marshes/pools.
Tp -- Permanent freshwater marshes/pools; ponds (below 8 ha), marshes and swamps on inorganic soils; with
emergent vegetation water-logged for at least most of the growing season.
Ts -- Seasonal/intermittent freshwater marshes/pools on inorganic soils; includes sloughs, potholes, seasonally
flooded meadows, sedge marshes.
U -- Non-forested peatlands; includes shrub or open bogs, swamps, fens.
Va -- Alpine wetlands; includes alpine meadows, temporary waters from snowmelt.
Vt -- Tundra wetlands; includes tundra pools, temporary waters from snowmelt.

Wetlands of the Arid NT Volume 1 Appendix 7 p1


W -- Shrub-dominated wetlands; shrub swamps, shrub-dominated freshwater marshes, shrub carr, alder thicket on
inorganic soils.
Xf -- Freshwater, tree-dominated wetlands; includes freshwater swamp forests, seasonally flooded forests, wooded
swamps on inorganic soils.
Xp -- Forested peatlands; peatswamp forests.
Y -- Freshwater springs; oases.
Zg -- Geothermal wetlands
Zk(b) – Karst and other subterranean hydrological systems, inland

Note : ‘floodplain’ is a broad term used to refer to one or more wetland types, which may include examples from the
R, Ss, Ts, W, Xf, Xp, or other wetland types. Some examples of floodplain wetlands are seasonally inundated
grassland (including natural wet meadows), shrublands, woodlands and forests. Floodplain wetlands are not listed
as a specific wetland type herein.

Human-made wetlands
1 -- Aquaculture (e.g. fish/shrimp) ponds
2 -- Ponds; includes farm ponds, stock ponds, small tanks; (generally below 8 ha).
3 -- Irrigated land; includes irrigation channels and rice fields.
4 -- Seasonally flooded agricultural land (including intensively managed or grazed wet meadow or pasture).
5 -- Salt exploitation sites; salt pans, salines, etc.
6 -- Water storage areas; reservoirs/barrages/dams/impoundments (generally over 8 ha).
7 -- Excavations; gravel/brick/clay pits; borrow pits, mining pools.
8 -- Wastewater treatment areas; sewage farms, settling ponds, oxidation basins, etc.
9 -- Canals and drainage channels, ditches.
Zk(c) – Karst and other subterranean hydrological systems, human-made

Reprinted from the ‘Strategic Framework and guidelines for the future development of the List of Wetlands
of International Importance’.

Criteria for Identifying Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites)


The Criteria for Identifying Wetlands of International Importance as adopted by the 4th, 6th, and 7th
Meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran,
1971) to guide implementation of Article 2.1 on designation of Ramsar sites. [Note: This is just a simple
list of the Criteria themselves out of their explanatory settings. They should properly be used as part of
the Strategic Framework and guidelines for the future development of the List of Wetlands of
International Importance adopted by COP7, 1999.]

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.

Wetlands of the Arid NT Volume 1 Appendix 7 p2


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.

Wetlands of the Arid NT Volume 1 Appendix 7 p3

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