France has designated 36 sites as “wetlands of international importance” since it signed the Ramsar convention in 1986; however, it must be said that this ‘Ramsar label’ is generally undervalued by the local stakeholders, and that no real active networking takes place between the different sites.
In response to these observations, wetland stakeholders mobilised to found an association with the following goals:
- popularise and promote the Ramsar label;
- improve the management of current Ramsar sites;
- create the necessary conditions for exchanging and sharing experiences, and producing knowledge nationally and internationally;
- be proactive, proposing ideas to wetland stakeholders in France and abroad;
- promote Ramsar sites with regard to all people, including socio-economic players, and local authorities.
Jérôme Bignon, a deputy of the Somme Department in France, is the President of this association, which is a world-wide pioneer in its field. It is based on a charter aimed to define the cooperation between the French government and the Ramsar France Association for the sustainable and partnership-based management of wetlands of international importance. This charter was recently signed by Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing, Anada Tiéga, Ramsar Secretary General, and Hervé Schiavetti for the President of the Ramsar France Association at the 3rd annual seminar of Ramsar site managers, which took place in the Camargue.
Long live Ramsar France!