TheRamsar Convention (formally, theConvention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat) is an internationaltreaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization ofwetlands,[1] recognizing the fundamentalecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value. It is named after the city ofRamsar inIran, where the Convention was signed in 1971.
ThePhilippines enforced the Ramsar Convention in its whole territory on November 8, 1994. Since then, Ramsar has designated 10 Ramsar sites in the country. Two Ramsar sites in the Philippines have been declared byUNESCO asWorld Heritage Sites, namelyPuerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, andTubbataha Reefs Natural Park.[2] Last August 01, 2024 another Two Ramsar sites were declared, Sibugay Wetland Nature Reserve and Del Carmen Mangrove Reserve (DCMR) in Siargao Island Protected Landscape and Seascape (SIPLAS).
A national inventory of wetland resources, based on the best scientific information available, is mandated by the Convention since 1990 through Recom 4.6. A Framework for Wetland Inventory was also established by the Convention in 2002 to aid member states in establishing their own national inventory for wetland sites. The inventory makes it possible to prioritize appropriate wetland sites for designation on the Ramsar List, similar to the tentative list of UNESCO, where UNESCO sites must always come from the tentative list. There is currently no publicly disclosed wetland inventory in the Philippines, but it is assumed that such inventory exists as the Philippines, through theDepartment of Environment and Natural Resources, has already nominated at least seven Philippine wetlands since 1994.
The current representation of the Philippines in Ramsar wetland nominations is inactive compared with the Ramsar wetland nominations of its peers. By comparison, the Philippines has 10 sites, while Mexico has more than 140, the archipelagic country of Japan has more than 50, the African nation of Algeria has more than 50, and the small country of South Korea has 22. The Philippines, an archipelagic country, theoretically possesses more wetlands than South Korea and North Korea combined. This has prompted various scholars to push the government to participate more in the nominations of Philippine wetlands in the Ramsar Convention. By rule, the Philippines may nominate multiple sites as Ramsar sites like what Mexico did in 2008, where at least 45 of its nominated sites were specifically declared as new Ramsar sites.[3]
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