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The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands at 50

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 5, pages 268–270 (2021)Cite this article

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At 50, the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, 1971) has a mixed legacy. To survive and stay relevant in the Anthropocene, the convention will need to embrace new ecological thinking and conservation approaches.

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Fig. 1: The timeline shows key internal and external events that have influenced the development trajectory of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Phang and S. Arico for helpful comments in the development of this contribution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Peter Bridgewater & Rakhyun E. Kim

  2. Institute for Applied Ecology and Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Peter Bridgewater

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  1. Peter Bridgewater
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  2. Rakhyun E. Kim
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Contributions

P.B. and R.E.K. contributed equally to the conceptualization, writing and editing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Peter Bridgewater.

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Competing interests

P.B. was Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention 2003–2007. R.E.K. declares no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Ecology & Evolution thanks Missaka Hettiarachchi for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Bridgewater, P., Kim, R.E. The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands at 50. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 268–270 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01392-5

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