A directory of all newly designated Ramsar sites from Kushiro, 1993 to Brisbane, 1996. The Directory contains a brief physical and ecological description of all Ramsar designated wetlands of international importance.

A directory of Afrotropical wetlands of international importance. Contents -Region 1: North West Africa, Region 2: North East Africa, Region 3: West Africa, Region 4: Central Africa, Region 5: Southern Africa, Region 6: Madagascar.

Wetlands throughout the world, including those described in this book are among the most sensitive and vulnerable ecosystems. They are critical habitats to the world’s migratory birds and a broad range of endangered mammal, reptile, amphibian, and plant species. They provide a broad range of flood storage, pollution control, water supply, ecotourism functions to indigenous peoples and country populations as a whole. They are also at the center of severe land and water use conflicts. These are conflicts between counties where wetland resources or the water supplies required for such resources involve more than one country. These are conflicts in use such as conflicts between habitat protection and charcoal production in mangroves. These are conflicts between groups of peoples such as indigenous peoples and hydropower advocates. Many wetlands have already been destroyed by water extractions, dams, levees, channelization, and fills. Others have been degraded by water pollution, overfishing and overhunting, timber harvest, and a host of other activities. This book describes these conflicts and international policies and institutions developed to protect and manage wetland resources. Most of the broader literature and other books on wetlands focuses on wildlife. Wildlife is described in the case studies, which follow. But, Richard Smardon provides us with more. He traces the history of conflicts and the development of policies and insti- tions to protect and manage wetland resources.

The impetus for this volume was the 2nd International Wetlands Conference which was held in June, 1984 at Trebon, Czechoslovakia. An overview of the worlds wetlands was one of the themes of the conference and it was decided that a useful follow-up would be a publication on the same topic. The initial goal was to cover as many of the worlds wetlands as possible in one volume and to have an emphasis on wetland ecology, biota, classification, and management. Individuals who made presentations at the Trebon confer ence were asked to prepare chapters and the editors also solicited other contributions. For a variety of reasons, the initial goal has been difficult to reach, especially coverage of the entire globe, and it has been necessary to publish the contributions in more than one volume. Volume 1 represents the com pletion of the first phase of the project and it covers most of the Western Hemisphere, Australia, most of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Mediter ranean region, and Papua New Guinea. Volume 2 will contain chapters on Western Europe, Northern Europe, Central Europe, most of northern and It is our hope that Volume western Asia, the Middle East, and Indonesia. 2 will appear in the near future and, if possible, a third volume will be published if authors can be secured to cover areas such as the Far East, other parts of the Indo-Pacific region, and New Zealand.

Don't drain the swamp! Man's traditional response to swamps, marshes and bogs has been to drain them. But wetlands are not wastelands. Coastal marshes are among the world's most productive ecosystems. They make many commercial fisheries possible and protect coasts from floods and storm surges. Wetlands are pollution filters, water reservoirs. They are among the last wild places on earth, offering homes to endangered plants, birds and animals. Attitudes to wetlands are changing, but not fast enough. As scientists are documenting the wealth in wet places, governments and developers are draining them, damming them, logging them and building resort hotels where ', they once were. Destruction is usually a poor trade-off: well-managed wetlands in Louisiana are producing fortunes in seafood and timber. Waterlogged wealth examines the value of swamps and marshes, as well as the threats against them. In doing so it takes the reader to some of the world's most bizarre landscapes: the 'inland delta' of the Niger River in drought-stricken Mali; the wildlife-rich Okavango swamps of Botswana; the waterlogged Sunderban forests of India and Bangladesh, where tigers eat fish and crabs. Civilisation began around wetlands; today's civilisation has good reason to leave them wet and wild. Dr Edward Maltby is a lecturer in geography at the University of Exeter(UK). He has done extensive research on wetlands both in the North (UK, US, Canada) and the South (Fiji, Jamaica, India and the Falklands/Malvinas Islands). He is on the IUCN Wetland Programme Advisory Committee. Originally published in 1986