Undesignated sites in Mexico qualifying as wetlands of international importance

Abstract

Those sites designated under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat constitute the most important wetland conservation network at a global level, with more than 1000 sites of international importance. With only seven designated sites, waterfowl and wetlands in Mexico are evidently under-represented in the list. We identify 34 currently undesignated sites in Mexico that qualify as wetlands of international importance, based on waterfowl count data from 1991–1997, using the Ramsar Convention criteria based on waterfowl. Using a complementarity approach implemented by linear integer programming, the sites were prioritised into two categories on the basis of their importance for designation. Twelve sites were categorised as Priority 1 (higher), and 22 sites as Priority 2 (lower). The Priority 1 set has held a waterfowl count average of 1.2 million individuals, and between 1% (ruddy duck, Oxyura j. jamaicensis) and 51% (black brant, Branta bernicla nigricans) of the populations of 10 species of waterfowl, and includes sites from eight biogeographic regions.