Every year, on 2 February, we celebrate World Wetlands Day
The background is quite formal: on this day in 1971, in Ramsar, Iran, 18 countries signed the text of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitats. They found it very important to protect wetlands across countries to support the flyways of migrating birds, which rely on wetlands as their only habitat. This group of birds is called “waterfowl”. Every country took an obligation to designate and protect, in accordance with its own legislation, at least one site that fits the criteria of “wetland of international importance”. In those days, the focus was on maintaining waterfowl habitats, and the benchmark was bird numbers. At least 1% of the global population had to rely on the wetland candidate as habitat.
Today, the convention is known as the Ramsar Convention.
Over its 55-year history, the convention has changed significantly. Nowadays, the convention has 172 Contracting Parties – that is, how countries that are signing multilateral agreements are called.
The convention introduced a definition of wetlands that encompasses a wide range of habitats, from the shallow seas to the tundra, from lakes and rivers to tropical forests on peat. The criteria for designating wetlands of international importance are currently also wide and varied. For those who are interested, they are here:
https://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/ramsarsites_criteria_eng.pdf
World Wetlands Day was established by the Convention’s Contracting Parties in 1997.
Since this year, the WWD has been celebrated every year all over the world by events that highlight the importance of wetlands.
The events of this year are accumulated in the WWD2026 web page:
https://www.worldwetlandsday.org/events
ABC SDG hold two lectures in the Colloquium of the Senckenberg Museum explaining value of wetlands:
The records and presentations could be downloaded.
The nearest events to us are in Polish:
Online: February 2 https://fb.me/e/bjAUgpxVN
On World Wetlands Day, Wiktor Kotowski and Aleksandra Leszczyńska talk to Chief Nature Conservator Mikołaj Dorożała about whether and how the government is fulfilling its election promises to protect and restore wetlands.
Offline: January 31 and February 1 https://fb.me/e/3hec1xCoe
Centrum Ochrony Mokradeł celebrates WWD in Warsaw University. It includes a field visit and a public event at the University. The details are here:
https://bagna.pl/aktualn…/793-swiatowy-dzien-mokradel-2026
Offline: February 7, https://fb.me/e/b9s8cioZT
Zielonogórski Dzień Mokradeł – the field excursion with outstanding wetland experts