How many bird species?

[Jan]

Well that certainly doesn't doesn't apply to other countries, David. And not here either, or why would Manawatu Estuary be a RAMSAR site, but Avon/Heathcote estuary and Lake Ellesmere not be? Both the latter contain well over 1% of the total numbers of some species of wetland birds and have important fish numbers and vegetation associations.

[David Riddell]

If anything Jan, that rather supports my memory that the Ramsar designations were initially assigned with political, rather than objective scientific criteria paramount. I distinctly recall someone at a wetlands workshop saying quite explicitly (though with some embarrassment) that a country like NZ should have only a small handful of designated Ramsar sites. It seems that what's happened is that there's now more acceptance of the idea that a great many wetlands around the world meet the criteria the Ramsar Convention has set for recognition of international significance (1% of a species' population etc.), but that some countries, such as NZ, have moved more slowly than others in designating more. By the way Ramsar isn't an acronym, it's a city in Iran.

[Jan]

Yes, I am aware of the name RAMSAR being the place where the wetland convention was signed about the criteria for designating important wetland areas. That was in 1971, 45 years ago, and NZ still only has 6 sites with 95% of our original wetlands having been drained and improved out of existence. Ok, it should be Ramsar sites, but it is still completely incredible that NZ should have decided that wetlands are not important enough to even merit consideration for inclusion. It smacks of that 'we don't need to take any notice, we are so small and so far away that it wont make any difference' attitude that we take to climate change. Not good enough.