About

Ramsar Sites and the List of Wetlands of International Importance

Under the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, 1971), each Contracting Party undertakes to designate at least one wetland site for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance. There are over 2,000 "Ramsar Sites" on the territories of over 160 Contracting Parties across the world.

For more information on the Convention, please visit the Convention website.

The Ramsar Sites Information Service

The Ramsar Sites Information Service (RSIS) provides online information on wetlands that have been designated as internationally important.

All Site information is provided by the Contracting Parties to the Convention. Responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the data lies with the Administrative Authority of the Party that has added the Site to the List of Wetlands of International Importance.

The Convention Secretariat provides open access to the RSIS and its data, to promote the conservation and wise use of wetlands. If you are interested in an overview of the Ramsar Sites network, or are looking for information on a specific Site, please visit the Explore Sites page.

You will find:

  • a searchable database of Ramsar Sites, which holds information on the wetland types, ecology, land uses, threats, hydrological values of each Site as well as spatial information
  • downloadable copies of Ramsar Information Sheets (RISs) for each site which have been provided by the Contracting Parties , including maps and supplementary information, Site summaries, and exportable data sets; and
  • digital (GIS) boundaries of Sites, where available.

For any further questions, comments or other inquiries about the RSIS, please contact the Convention Secretariat at [email protected].

Offline RIS form

If your Administrative Authority has asked you to help compile information on a new or existing Ramsar Site, but you do not have a password to access the restricted sections of this web site, you can download and use the offline RIS form. You can also download instructions on using this form, and the “Strategic Framework and guidelines for the future development of the List of Wetlands of international Importance of the Convention on Wetlands” for further guidance.

Online RSIS

If you are the Administrative Authority of a Contracting Party and want to submit or update Ramsar Site information using the new online RIS, please log in or read the log-in instructions.