Wise use of wetlands under the Ramsar Convention: a challenge for meaningful implementation of international law

Abstract

The 1971 Ramsar Convention was the first modern multilateral treaty designed to conserve natural resources on a global scale. To date, most concern with the Convention has been with the listing and conservation of internationally significant wetlands, and little attention has been paid to the obligation under the Convention to promote the 'wise use' of all wetlands. Australia was the first contracting party to the Convention, but an analysis of policy documents at State level reinforces the scant emphasis being given to the 'wise use' duty, at least as an internationally binding obligation. In 1987 the Parties to the Convention adopted a definition of 'wise use' which emphasized maintaining 'the natural properties of ecosystems,' but this conservation-based approach sits ill at ease with human interventions which are inherent in the concept of wise management. It could be argued that the more holistic approaches towards environmental management that characterised the Biodiversity Convention have rendered the Ramsar Convention outmoded. If this is the case, it is in no small way due to the failure to develop more effectively the wise management concept.