Designation Criteria

A wetland is identified as being of international importance if it meets at least one of the Criteria as adopted by the 4th, 6th, and 7th meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Convention (COPs).  There are currently eight Criteria, adopted by COP7 in 1999 as part of the Convention’s Strategic Framework and guidelines for the future development of the List of Wetlands of International Importance (http://www.ramsar.org/key_guide_list_e.htm#iv)

Sites containing representative, rare or unique wetland types

A wetland should be considered internationally important -

Criterion 1: if it contains a representative, rare, or unique example of a natural or near-natural wetland type found within the appropriate biogeographic region.

Sites of international importance for conserving biological diversity

A wetland should be considered internationally important -

Criterion 2: if it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities.
Criterion 3: if it supports populations of plant and/or animal species important for maintaining the biological diversity of a particular biogeographic region.
Criterion 4: if it supports plant and/or animal species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.
Criterion 5: if it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.
Criterion 6: if it regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbird.
Criterion 7: 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: 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.

Note that Sites designated before 1999 were designated under three groups of criteria with numbers and letters (e.g. 1a, 2c).  These old criteria are further explained at http://www.ramsar.org/key_criteria_old.htm  All of the Directory entries that are included on this CD have the current Criteria applied, however, the Ramsar Information Sheet supplied by the Contracting Party may show the old criteria for Sites.  Wetlands International, in consultation with the Ramsar Secretariat has used a look up table to convert the old criteria to the new versions, this is shown below:

Conversion to the Revised Ramsar Criteria (1999)

Previously	Current
1a,1b,1c,1d	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.
2a	Criterion 2: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities.
2b,2d,3b	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.
2c	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.
3a	Criterion 5: A wetland should be considered internationally important if it regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.
3c	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.
4a	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.
4b	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.