February2ndistheWorldDay of swamplands

February 2ndis celebrated as the World Day of swamplands. The events carried out on this day are meant to attract attention to the importance of swamplandsin order to maintain sustainable development of our planet.
TheConventiononswamplandsofinternationalimportancepredominantlyasthehabitatof swimming birds was signed in 1971 on February 2nd, in Ramsar (Iran), and since then it has been called the Ramsar Convention.
It is mainly aimed at conservation and rational use of swamplands as a means of achievement of sustainable development around the world. TheWorldDayofswamplandswas celebrated for the first time in 1997.
In 1971 theRamsarConventionwassignedby 18 countries, whilein 2000 their amount increased to 119, and as for the moment the Convention has been joined by 159 countries. TotalamountofRamsar lands included into the List makes up 1,869 with total area amounting to 1,836 thousand square km.

Press Service of the Ministry