50 Years on, w(h)ither the Ramsar convention? A case of institutional drift

Abstract

Wetlands have declined in area and quality at an accelerating pace in the last 50 years. Yet, the last 50 years is when international attention has been focussed on wetlands through the Ramsar Convention. An analysis of how the convention has evolved over the past 50 years suggests it has been drifting away from its original mandate in a maladaptive manner, and this drift is a problem for achieving its original objectives. A review of the strategic plans of the convention revealed two key conditions for institutional drifting and the associated lack of success. The first condition lies in its unique situation as a non-UN convention, which reduces the convention’s visibility and interactivity with other biodiversity-related conventions, agencies, or programmes. The second condition is an increasing number of conventions dealing with biodiversity issues, all forcing the Ramsar Convention to seek different roles in an increasingly competitive institutional landscape. A more effective future for the convention arguably lies in reasserting its original mandate, but with cognisance of the changed environmental pressures of the twenty-first century. While this would narrow its increasingly broad focus, such a reorientation will allow wetlands and waterfowl to start a track to recovery, backed by active and focused Contracting Parties in a renewed international convention on wetland conservation, management, and sustainable use.

Do 50‐year‐old Ramsar criteria still do the best possible job? A plea for broadened scientific underpinning of the global protection of wetlands and migratory waterbirds

“…With this focus on wetlands, the Ramsar Convention, now ratified by 171 countries, even today provides the clearest basis for the conservation of migratory waterbirds (Bridgewater & Kim, 2021a, 2021b; Stroud & Davidson, 2022). The Ramsar Convention currently lists more than 2400 wetlands of international importance that together cover 2.5 million km 2 (Bridgewater & Kim, 2021a).…”

“…Building on Bridgewater and Kim (2021b) about the role of International Organization Partners within the Ramsar Convention, we urge the worldwide conservation community to take more responsibility (than what is currently the case) to help empower existing and new scientific consortia to play the necessary active roles in developing (e.g., with the help of bird‐tracking studies in relation to land‐use and habitat quality) and then maintaining and curating the dynamic databases necessary for the criteria to do their work.…”

Wetland Park Planning and Management Based on the Valuation of Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of the Tieling Lotus Lake National Wetland Park (LLNWP), China

“…Wetlands are declining in area and quality and are thus in serious trouble and under mounting pressure [ 8 ]. As people have continuously placed demands on the ecosystem, the global wetland landscape has been destroyed, and the area of wetlands has continued to decrease.…”

Change and Integration of International Environmental Institutions in Global Governance

“…These modes have served as a powerful analytical framework that allows explanations for changes that were not planned or implemented by one single authority. In the case of the Ramsar Convention, for example, the myriad actors involved in steering its course caused the convention to "drift" away from its original mandate (Bridgewater & Kim, 2021). Additionally, systematization has helped by distinguishing the five observable modes of change and by explaining the underlying mechanisms for these changes.…”

“…These modes of institutional change have served as a powerful analytical framework, enabling explanations for changes that no one single authority planned or implemented. For example, in the case of the Ramsar Convention, the myriad actors involved in steering its course have resulted in the convention "drifting" away from its original mandate (Bridgewater & Kim, 2021).…”