Wetlands

Starter: what has this got to do with freshwater wetlands?

Ramsar (Persian: رامسر‎, also Romanized as Rāmsar and Rānsar; formerly, Sakht Sar)^[1] is a city in and the capital of Ramsar County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 31,659, in 9,421 families.^[2]

Ramsar lies on the coast of the Caspian Sea. It was also known as Sakhtsar in the past. Natives of Ramsar speak the Gilaki language which is a member of Iranian languages. The town is known for having the highest levels of natural background radiation on Earth.

1. Define freshwater wetland.
2. What is the Ramsar Convention, when was it signed and why?
3. Using this site, create three maps of the following scale and describe the patterns of RAMSAR sites on each.
   • Global
   • Regional
   • National
4. What makes a Ramsar Site internationally important?
5. Explain why wetlands are;
   • under threat and;
   • should be conserved.

6. You need to build a case study about the future possibilities for one specific wetland

Plenary: what is the future for wetlands?