Ramsar Convention

The Ramsar convention is named after the city in Iran: Ramsar. This is where the original documentation for this convention was signed in 1971. Ramsar is known as the convention on wetlands of international importance. Basically, it is an agreement between different regions of the world to take care of the wetlands. Namely, they want to take care of the wetlands of international importance. They have a list that is of the most important wetlands that need to be conserved so we know where to concentrate our efforts. So far, there are 2122 Ramsar convention sites (refer to the map) and these sites cover 205 million hectares of land worldwide. Some countries that are involved are Finland, Austria, Ukraine, Iran, South Africa, Kazakhstan and many more.
In order to be on the Ramsar List, the site must be of international importance. Some of the criteria to assess its importance are as follows:

1. Rare, unique, natural or near-natural wetland 
2. Supports vulnerable, endangered species
3. Threatened ecological communities
4. Populations of animals/plants that are important to maintain biodiversity in a certain region
5. Supports more than 20,000 waterbirds
6. Supports 1% of a population of a subspecies or species (waterbird, non-avian animal depedent on wetlands)
7. An important source of food, spawning region, migration path for fish
8. Supports an indigenous fish subspecies/species 

Wetlands International is a non-profit global organization that works closely with the Ramsar convention. All wetlands that they preserve are based upon Ramsar's list of the most important wetlands to conserve. With the headquarters in Netherlands, this organization reaches out to over 100 countries, most of them developing. Their mission statement is "To sustain and restore wetlands, their resources & biodiversity." They fulfill their mission by conserving the most important wetlands (as stated under the Ramsar Convention), using expert knowledge to conserve these wetlands, empower communities where the wetlands are located to take action, and to be advocates for wetlands internationally.