with regard to large developmental projects. This may avoid unnecessary hassle and wastage of time and financial resources on such projects which might have severe implications for wetland ecosystems. There have also been instances where development projects challenged in the light of the Ramsar Convention were ultimately rejected. One such instance which has been widely written about is the construction of a resort on an island in the Netherlands. A private company, Crown Court Estate, planned to build a resort named “Mangrove Village” on the Island of Bonaire (one of the islands of the Netherlands Antilles). The project would be spread over an area of 44 150 m2 and some of its area falling within the boundary of a Ramsar site, the Lac/Sorobon wetland. The Governor of the island realized that the project was causing an infringement of Article 3 of the Ramsar Convention and the guidelines adopted in the Annex of Resolution VIII.9. The project was rejected by the Governor based on the argument that it breached the provisions of the Ramsar Convention (Verschuuren 2008).
2.11 Effectiveness of the Convention
Evaluating the effectiveness and success of an International Convention like Ramsar is a task not as easy and straightforward as it seems yet a fair level of the effectiveness of the convention can be gauged based on the indicators mentioned as below:
1 Number of signatories: In the year 1971, only a meagre number of 18 nations realized the significance of wetlands and attended the Ramsar Convention but by the year 2019, the total number of signatories have risen to 171 which could be considered a big success of the convention and the way it has been able to lobby for the conservation of wetlands (Ramsar Sites Information Service 2020).
2 Number/area of Ramsar sites: The number of Ramsar sites has been on a constant rise since the Ramsar Convention. Currently, the total number of Ramsar sites around the world is 2390 with their cumulative area of 2.5 million km2 (Ramsar Sites Information Service 2020).
3 Increase in protection: It has been observed that the Ramsar‐designated sites have experienced an increase in protection efforts over the years. The increase in protection has particularly been noticeable in the developing world (Castro et al. 2002).
4 Reduction in threat levels: It has been noticed that the Ramsar‐designated sites with greater levels of threats have witnessed a significant reduction in the levels of threats they experienced in the past. (Castro et al. 2002).
5 Decline in degradation: The degradation of wetlands is still going on but at a lesser rate. As per a case study, the Mangrove wetlands are still getting degraded but the rate of their loss has reduced around the world except in Asia (where it has increased) (Pritchard 2009).
While the above‐mentioned indicators point toward a healthy trend, there is a need to be wary of the fact that wetland degradation is still continuing. In some of the cases it has been realized that the wetlands which earlier had lower levels of threats are now facing greater levels of threats. As per some assessments, there has also been a decline of around 35% in the spatial extent of wetlands globally between the years 1970 and 2015 (Ramsar Convention on Wetlands 2018). This points to the fact that while the Ramsar Convention has successfully proved itself to be a great tool for wetland conservation across the globe, there still are some serious gaps that will take time to fill.
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