EarthTrends (http://earthtrends.wri.org) Searchable Database Results
Provided by the World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org)
"Biodiversity and Protected Areas -- Protected Areas: Wetlands of international importance (Ramsar sites), number"

"Units: Number"

,,2007,
World
"World {1}","",1702,

,,2007,
Region/Classification
"Asia (excluding Middle East)","",178,
"Central America & Caribbean","",133,
"Europe","",861,
"Middle East & North Africa","",137,
"North America","",70,
"Oceania","",76,
"South America","",83,
"Sub-Saharan Africa","",164,
"Developed Countries","",1069,
"Developing Countries","",640,
"High Income Countries","",857,
"Low Income Countries","",213,
"Middle Income Countries","",631,

,,2007,
Country
"Albania","ALB",3,
"Algeria","DZA",42,
"Antigua and Barbuda","ATG",1,
"Argentina","ARG",15,
"Armenia","ARM",2,
"Aruba","ABW",1,
"Australia","AUS",64,
"Austria","AUT",19,
"Azerbaijan {2}","AZE",3,
"Bahamas","BHS",1,
"Bahrain","BHR",2,
"Bangladesh","BGD",2,
"Barbados","BRB",1,
"Belarus","BLR",8,
"Belgium","BEL",9,
"Belize","BLZ",2,
"Benin","BEN",4,
"Bolivia","BOL",8,
"Bosnia and Herzegovina","BIH",2,
"Botswana","BWA",1,
"Brazil","BRA",8,
"Bulgaria","BGR",10,
"Burkina Faso","BFA",3,
"Burundi","BDI",1,
"Cambodia","KHM",3,
"Cameroon","CMR",2,
"Canada","CAN",37,
"Cape Verde","CPV",3,
"Côte d'Ivoire","CIV",6,
"Central African Rep","CAF",1,
"Chad","TCD",5,
"Chile","CHL",9,
"China","CHN",30,
"Colombia","COL",3,
"Comoros","COM",3,
"Congo","COG",1,
"Congo, Dem Rep","COD",2,
"Costa Rica","CRI",11,
"Croatia","HRV",4,
"Cuba","CUB",6,
"Cyprus","CYP",1,
"Czech Rep","CZE",12,
"Denmark","DNK",27,
"Djibouti","DJI",1,
"Dominican Rep","DOM",1,
"Ecuador","ECU",12,
"Egypt","EGY",2,
"El Salvador","SLV",3,
"Equatorial Guinea","GNQ",3,
"Estonia","EST",11,
"Fiji","FJI",1,
"Finland","FIN",49,
"France","FRA",21,
"French Guiana","GUF",2,
"Gabon","GAB",6,
"Gambia","GMB",2,
"Georgia","GEO",2,
"Germany","DEU",33,
"Ghana","GHA",6,
"Greece","GRC",10,
"Greenland","GRL",11,
"Guadeloupe","GLP",1,
"Guatemala","GTM",7,
"Guinea","GIN",16,
"Guinea-Bissau","GNB",1,
"Honduras","HND",6,
"Hungary","HUN",26,
"Iceland","ISL",3,
"India","IND",25,
"Indonesia","IDN",3,
"Iran, Islamic Rep","IRN",22,
"Iraq","IRQ",1,
"Ireland","IRL",45,
"Israel","ISR",2,
"Italy","ITA",50,
"Jamaica","JAM",3,
"Japan","JPN",33,
"Jordan","JOR",1,
"Kazakhstan {3}","KAZ",2,
"Kenya","KEN",5,
"Korea, Rep","KOR",5,
"Kyrgyzstan","KGZ",2,
"Latvia","LVA",6,
"Lebanon","LBN",4,
"Lesotho","LSO",1,
"Liberia","LBR",5,
"Libyan Arab Jamahiriya","LBY",2,
"Liechtenstein","LIE",1,
"Lithuania","LTU",5,
"Luxembourg","LUX",2,
"Macedonia, FYR","MKD",1,
"Madagascar","MDG",6,
"Malawi","MWI",1,
"Malaysia","MYS",5,
"Mali","MLI",1,
"Malta","MLT",2,
"Marshall Islands","MHL",1,
"Mauritania","MRT",3,
"Mauritius","MUS",1,
"Mexico","MEX",67,
"Moldova, Rep","MDA",3,
"Monaco","MCO",1,
"Mongolia","MNG",11,
"Montenegro","MNE",1,
"Morocco","MAR",24,
"Mozambique","MOZ",1,
"Myanmar","MMR",1,
"Namibia","NAM",4,
"Nepal","NPL",4,
"Netherlands","NLD",43,
"Netherlands Antilles","ANT",5,
"New Zealand","NZL",6,
"Nicaragua","NIC",8,
"Niger","NER",12,
"Nigeria","NGA",1,
"Norway {4}","NOR",37,
"Pakistan","PAK",19,
"Palau","PLW",1,
"Panama","PAN",4,
"Papua New Guinea","PNG",2,
"Paraguay","PRY",6,
"Peru","PER",12,
"Philippines","PHL",4,
"Poland","POL",13,
"Portugal","PRT",17,
"Romania","ROU",5,
"Russian Federation","RUS",35,
"Rwanda","RWA",1,
"Samoa","WSM",1,
"Sao Tome & Principe","STP",1,
"Senegal","SEN",4,
"Serbia","SRB",6,
"Seychelles","SYC",1,
"Sierra Leone","SLE",1,
"Slovakia","SVK",14,
"Slovenia","SVN",3,
"South Africa","ZAF",19,
"Spain","ESP",63,
"Sri Lanka","LKA",3,
"St. Lucia","LCA",2,
"Sudan","SDN",2,
"Suriname","SUR",1,
"Sweden","SWE",51,
"Switzerland","CHE",11,
"Syrian Arab Rep","SYR",1,
"Tajikistan","TJK",5,
"Tanzania","TZA",4,
"Thailand","THA",10,
"Togo","TGO",4,
"Trinidad and Tobago","TTO",3,
"Tunisia","TUN",20,
"Turkey","TUR",12,
"Turkmenistan {5}","TKM",1,
"Uganda","UGA",11,
"Ukraine","UKR",33,
"United Arab Emirates","ARE",1,
"United Kingdom {6}","GBR",166,
"United States","USA",22,
"Uruguay","URY",2,
"Uzbekistan","UZB",1,
"Venezuela","VEN",5,
"Viet Nam","VNM",2,
"Zambia","ZMB",8,

Footnotes
"1 -- World"
"Transboundary sites may be counted more than once in regional totals."

"2 -- Azerbaijan"
"Site was designated as part of the former U.S.S.R."

"3 -- Kazakhstan"
"Site was designated as part of the former U.S.S.R."

"4 -- Norway"
"Includes Spitzbergen"

"5 -- Turkmenistan"
"Site was designated as part of the former U.S.S.R."

"6 -- United Kingdom"
"Includes Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, UK Cyprus, Falkland Islands, Turks & Caicos Islands"

Source
"The Bureau of the Convention on Wetlands. 2007. The Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.  Available on-line at: http://ramsar.org/sitelist.pdf. Convention on Wetlands: Gland, Switzerland."


Technical Notes
"Definition:"
"This dataset refers to the number of sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance, or ""Ramsar sites,"" in a country or region.  Wetlands of International Importance are defined under the Convention on Wetlands as having ""international significance in terms of ecology, botany, zoology, limnology or hydrology."" "
""
"The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. When a country becomes a Party to the Convention, it agrees to designate at least one wetland for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance (the ""Ramsar List"") and to promote its conservation. "
""
"Though protected areas serve a vital function in protecting the earth’s resources they face many challenges, such as external threats associated with pollution and climate change, irresponsible tourism, infrastructure development and ever increasing demands for land and water resources. Moreover, many protected areas lack political support and have inadequate financial and other resources."
""
"Years Covered and Frequency of Update:"
"The dataset shown here is taken from the The Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance, updated in November 2007.  The list is maintained on-line by the Bureau of the Convention on Wetlands at: http://ramsar.org/sitelist.pdf.  As of November 2007, there were 1702 Ramsar sites in 157 countries with an overall extent of 152,000,000 hectares."
""
"Methodology: "
"Ramsar sites are selected based on the following criteria, taken from http://www.ramsar.org/key_criteria.htm."
""
"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"
"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."
"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."
"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. "
""
"There are a number of transboundary watersheds recognized by the Ramsar Convention.  Though the watersheds are contiguous, the Convention counts each country's portion separately in its world total, so WRI has done the same in calculating regional totals. For a list of transboundary sites, visit http://www.ramsar.org/key_trs.htm."
"Data Reliability:"
"Data presented here are an accurate account of the number of formally recognized wetlands of international importance as of November 2007.  Please refer to http://www.ramsar.org/ for the most recent directory."