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69-450: Ifrane National Park was conceived in 1994 and established in October 2004 to protect important species and ecosystems, and because of increases in human activity and resource exploitation. Since the 1990s, Morocco has been involved in devising strategies to help protect the environment and biodiversity through projects and conventions such as Ramsar . Ifrane National Park is one of the ways that

138-402: A citizen science project used by ornithologists to document trends in bird populations, it allows birders see recent reports by other birders and search by species and location. Some species, including endangered species and others likely to be disrupted by increased human activity, are designated "sensitive species" by eBird and have locations of sightings hidden from the general public. As

207-479: A country list , state list , county list , yard list , year list , or any combination of these. The early interest in observing birds for their aesthetic rather than utilitarian (mainly food) value is traced to the late 18th century in the works of Gilbert White , Thomas Bewick , George Montagu and John Clare . The study of birds, and of natural history in general, became increasingly prevalent in Britain during

276-404: A golden-winged warbler ( Vermivora chrysoptera ), which is native to North America. Twitchers have developed their own vocabulary . For example, a twitcher who fails to see a rare bird has dipped out ; if other twitchers do see the bird, they may feel gripped off . Suppression is the act of concealing news of a rare bird from other twitchers. Many birders maintain a life list , that is,

345-470: A spotting scope with tripod , a smartphone , a notepad, and one or more field guides . Hides (known as blinds in North America) or observation towers are often used to conceal the observers from birds, and/or to improve viewing conditions. Virtually all optics manufacturers offer specific binoculars for birding, and some have even geared their whole brand to birders. Recognition of bird vocalizations

414-406: A telescope , by listening for bird sounds, watching public webcams , or by viewing smart bird feeder cameras. Most birdwatchers pursue this activity for recreational or social reasons, unlike ornithologists , who engage in the study of birds using formal scientific methods. The first recorded use of the term birdwatcher was in 1712 by William Oldsworth. The term birding was also used for

483-477: A distance away from nests and nesting colonies, and respecting private property. The lack of definite evidence, except arguably in the form of photographs, makes birding records difficult to prove but birdwatchers strive to build trust in their identification. One of the few major disputes was the case of the Hastings Rarities . Ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen considers birdwatching to be an expression of

552-559: A list of all of the species they have seen in their life, usually with details about the sighting such as date and location. The American Birding Association has specific rules about how a bird species may be documented and recorded in such a list if it is submitted to the ABA; however, the criteria for the personal recording of these lists are very subjective. Some birders "count" species they have identified audibly, while others only record species that they have identified visually. Some also maintain

621-414: A list. The term originated in the 1950s, when it was used to describe the nervous behaviour of Howard Medhurst, a British birdwatcher. Earlier terms for those who chased rarities were pot-hunter , tally-hunter , or tick-hunter . The main goal of twitching is often to accumulate species on one's lists. Some birders engage in competition to accumulate the longest species list. The act of the pursuit itself

690-484: A major business, with at least 127 companies offering tours worldwide. An average trip to a less-developed country costs $ 4,000 per person and includes about 12 participants for each of 150 trips a year. It has been suggested that this economic potential needs to be tapped for conservation. Birdwatching tourism is considered to be one of the fastest-growing nature-based tourism sectors in the world, often involving well-educated or wealthy travelers with specific interests in

759-801: A minimum of 10% of its net profits to bird conservation and communities it operates in. Another tour operator, Hardy Boat, has donated $ 200,000 to Project Puffin to conserve puffin populations off the Atlantic Coast. One of the expectations of ecotourism is that the travels of birders to a place will contribute to the improvement of the local economy, ensuring that the environment is valued and protected. Birdwatchers contribute to conservation, helping build and disseminate environmental knowledge by participating in citizen science. However, birding can bring about an increased penetration of ecosystem services that are perceived as birdwatchers' indispensable attributes. By their presence and obstinacy, birdwatchers affect

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828-585: A more limited scope, perhaps not venturing far from their own yards or local parks to view birds. Indeed, in 1969 a Birding Glossary appeared in Birding magazine which gave the following definitions: Birder . The acceptable term used to describe the person who seriously pursues the hobby of birding. May be professional or amateur. Birding . A hobby in which individuals enjoy the challenge of bird study, listing, or other general activities involving bird life. Bird-watcher . A rather ambiguous term used to describe

897-449: A much more widespread aspect of the hobby. As with the arrival of affordable digital cameras , the development of more compact and affordable digital video cameras has made them more attractive and accessible to the birding community. Cross-over, non-linear digital models now exist that take high-quality stills at acceptable resolutions, as well as being able to record and play audio and video. The ability to capture and reproduce not only

966-408: A part of birding, but in the past the cost of cameras with super-telephoto lenses made this a minority, often semi-professional, interest. The advent of affordable digital cameras , which can be used in conjunction with a spotting scope or binoculars (using the technique of afocal photography , referred to by the neologism " digiscoping " or sometimes digibinning for binoculars), have made this

1035-609: A possibility for a large number of people towards the 1980s. The need for global guides to birds increased, and one of the biggest resulting projects was the Handbook of the Birds of the World , begun in the 1990s by Josep del Hoyo, Jordi Sargatal, David A. Christie, and ornithologist Andy Elliott. Initially, birdwatching was largely restricted to developed countries such as the United Kingdom and

1104-576: A useful tool for environmental education and awareness of environmental issues. Birdwatching can increase respect for nature and awareness of the fragility of ecosystems . Birding as a competitive event is organized in some parts of the world. Such competitions encourage individuals or teams to accumulate large numbers of species within a specified time or area with special rules. Some birdwatchers will also compete by attempting to increase their life list, national list, state list, provincial list, county list, or year list . The American Birding Association

1173-440: Is World Wetlands Day, marking the convention's adoption on 2 February 1971. Established to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet, WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997, and has grown since then. In 2015 World Wetlands Day was celebrated in 59 countries. The convention was co-founded by Eskandar Firouz (former environment minister of Iran), Luc Hoffmann of Tour du Valat research station in

1242-508: Is a Ramsar site with a shelter for birdwatching . Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites ( wetlands ). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands . It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran , where the convention

1311-546: Is also located within the park. Located in the Atlas Mountains , and affected by the cold north Atlantic current, Ifrane National Park has a continental-influenced warm-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csb ) with short, somewhat dry, warm summers and long, cool, damp winters. The nights can be severely cold in winter. The winter highs rarely exceed 10 °C (50 °F) in December–February. Because of its elevation,

1380-424: Is an important part of a birder's toolkit. Sound information can assist in the locating, watching, identification, and sometimes sexing of birds. Recent developments in audio technology have seen recording and reproduction devices shrink in both size and price, making them accessible to a greater portion of the birding community. The non-linear nature of digital audio technology has also made selecting and accessing

1449-434: Is estimated that birdwatching ecotourism contributes $ 41 billion per year to the U.S. economy. The large funds generated by birdwatching ecotourism have been suggested as a replacement for tax revenue generated by bird hunting which has dropped to its lowest levels in decades. Birding ecotourism companies are also making contributions to conservation. Birding Ecotours, which runs both international and domestic trips, donates

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1518-586: Is referred to as a twitch or a chase . A rare bird that stays long enough for people to see it is twitchable or chaseable . Twitching is highly developed in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands , Denmark , Ireland , Finland and Sweden . The size of these countries makes it possible to travel throughout them quickly and with relative ease. The most popular twitches in the UK have drawn large crowds; for example, approximately 2,500 people travelled to Kent , to view

1587-567: The Sibley Guide to Birds and the official Audubon Society app. Other apps utilize machine learning to automatically identifying birds from photographs and audio recordings, such as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Merlin Bird ID application and iNaturalist . Cornell Lab of Ornithology 's eBird database is a popular tool used by birders to document their sightings. In addition to serving as

1656-816: The American Birding Association and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in North America. Many statewide or local Audubon organizations are also active in the United States, as are many provincial and local organizations in Canada. BirdLife International is an important global alliance of bird conservation organizations. Many countries and smaller regions (states/provinces) have "rarities committees" to check, accept or reject reports of rare birds made by birders. Equipment commonly used for birding includes binoculars ,

1725-657: The Camargue in France, and Geoffrey Matthews of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge in the late 1960s. The conference, which adopted the terms of the agreement, was held in the Iranian Caspian Sea resort of Ramsar on 2 February 1971. The convention turned 50 in 2021. Despite its quasi-universal application, the domestic response to this treaty is often half-hearted and inadequate. By way of example, Germany joined

1794-479: The Christmas Bird Count , or follow carefully designed study protocols. This kind of citizen science can assist in identifying environmental threats to the well-being of birds or, conversely, in assessing outcomes of environmental management initiatives intended to ensure the survival of at-risk species or to encourage the breeding of species for aesthetic or ecological reasons. This more scientific side of

1863-461: The Victorian Era , often associated with collection , eggs and later skins being the artifacts of interest. Wealthy collectors made use of their contacts in the colonies to obtain specimens from around the world. It was only in the late 19th century that the call for bird protection led to the rising popularity of observations of living birds. The Audubon Society was started to protect birds from

1932-507: The World Wide Web , birders have been using the Internet to convey information; this can be via mailing lists , forums , bulletin-boards , web-based databases and other social media . While most birding lists are geographic in scope, there are special-interest lists that cater to bird-identification, 'twitchers', seabirds and raptor enthusiasts to name but a few. Messages can range from

2001-896: The 'scientification' of the pastime was 'undesirable'. This stand was to change only in 1936 when the RSPB was taken over by Tom Harrisson and others. Harrisson was instrumental in the organization of pioneering surveys of the great crested grebe . Increased mobility of birdwatchers ensured that books like Where to Watch Birds by John Gooders became best-sellers. By the 1960s air travel became feasible and long-distance holiday destinations opened up. By 1965, Britain's first birding tour company, Ornitholidays had been started by Lawrence Holloway. Travelling far away also led to problems in name usage: British birds such as "wheatear", "heron" and "swallow" needed adjectives to differentiate them in places where there were several related species. The falling cost of air travel made flying to remote birding destinations

2070-496: The Anglophone countries or Scandinavia. In the 20th century, most of the birding activity in North America was done on the east coast. The publication of Roger Tory Peterson's field guide in 1934 led to the initial increase in birding. Binoculars, an essential piece of birding equipment, became more easily available after World War II, making the hobby more accessible. The practice of travelling long distances to see rare bird species

2139-601: The Audubon Society, which was against the killing of birds, and the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). The availability of first the bicycle and then the car increased the mobility of birdwatchers and this made new locations accessible. Networks of birdwatchers in the UK began to form in the late 1930s under the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The BTO saw the potential to produce scientific results through

Ifrane National Park - Misplaced Pages Continue

2208-787: The COP to serve for the three years. The Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) provides scientific and technical guidance to the Conference of Contracting Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Ramsar Secretariat. The Secretariat carries out the day-to-day coordination of the convention's activities. It is based at the headquarters of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Gland, Switzerland. The implementation of

2277-532: The Convention in 1976 and has, "[as of 2022], failed to give effect to the Ramsar Convention in the manner set out by the constitution of Germany." Birdwatching Birdwatching , or birding , is the observing of birds , either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science . A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or

2346-467: The Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, and South America. The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other organisations known as international organization partners (IOPs). These are: These organizations support the work of the convention by providing expert technical advice, helping implement field studies, and providing financial support. The IOPs also participate regularly as observers in all meetings of

2415-897: The Montpellier maple, the yew, and the holly. The park contains a rich fauna. It constitutes a natural living environment for Barbary macaques . Moreover, in the park one can find Barbary wild boars , African wolves , striped hyenas , Barbary stags , Barbary sheep (arruis), red foxes , servals , caracals , European otters , European rabbits , crested porcupines , Cape hares , common genets and, possibly, Barbary leopards . The park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of Barbary partridges , ruddy shelducks , marbled teals , red-knobbed coots , Levaillant's woodpeckers , subalpine , Sardinian and speckled warblers , spotless starlings , Moussier's redstarts , and black-eared and black wheatears . Afennourir Lake

2484-536: The Moroccan state came up with in order to demonstrate the importance of its forests and ecosystems. The park initially covered an area of 53,800 ha (133,000 acres), and was enlarged in April 2008 to encompasses some of the most ecologically sensitive areas such as wetlands and high-altitude forests. In 2021, to celebrate World Biodiversity Day, several arruis (Barbary sheep) and crested porcupines were reintroduced to

2553-514: The Ramsar Convention is a continuing partnership between the Conference of Contracting Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Secretariat, with the advice of the subsidiary expert body, the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), and the support of the international organization partners (IOPs). Musonda Mumba is the seventh secretary general of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. 2 February

2622-467: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2016, over 45 million Americans consider themselves birders. North American birders were estimated to have spent as much as US$ 32 billion in 2001. The spending is on the rise around the world. Kuşcenneti National Park (KNP) at Lake Manyas, a Ramsar site in Turkey, was estimated to attract birders who spent as much as US$ 103,320,074 annually. Guided bird tours have become

2691-561: The US was Birds through an Opera Glass (1889) by Florence Bailey . Birding in North America was focused in the early and mid-20th century in the eastern seaboard region, and was influenced by the works of Ludlow Griscom and later Roger Tory Peterson . Bird Neighbors (1897) by Neltje Blanchan , an early birding book, sold over 250,000 copies. It was illustrated with color photographs of stuffed birds. The organization and networking of those interested in birds began through organizations like

2760-511: The US), probably has the most subscribers, followed by the English-language fork of Eurobirdnet , Birding-Aus from Australia, SABirdnet from South Africa and Orientalbirding. The increasing availability of mobile devices in the 2010s allowed the smartphone to become a useful tool for birding. Mobile apps can be used as replacements for physical birding field guides, such as the digital version of

2829-414: The United Kingdom with 175 and Mexico with 142. The country with the largest surface area of listed wetland is Bolivia, with around 148,000 square kilometres (57,000 sq mi). The Ramsar Sites Information Service (RSIS) is a searchable database which provides information on each Ramsar site. As of 2016 there are 18 transboundary Ramsar sites, and 15 Ramsar regional initiatives covering regions of

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2898-540: The United States of America. Since the second half of the 20th century an increasing number of people in developing countries have engaged in this activity, such as in the Degua Tembien district of Ethiopia. Transnational birding has played an important role in this, as birders in developing countries usually take up the pastime under the influence of foreign cultures with a history of birding. A majority of transnational birders are middle-aged, male, affluent, and belong to

2967-553: The ability to store and play large quantities of information, pocket-sized devices allow a full birding multimedia library to be taken into the field and mobile Internet access makes obtaining and transmitting information possible in near real time. New technologies are allowing birdwatching activities to take place over the Internet, using robotic camera installations and mobile phones set up in remote wildlife areas. Projects such as CONE [1] allow users to observe and photograph birds over

3036-562: The area experiences snow during the winter months and a cooler climate during the summer (not as hot as in the nearby regions). Owing to the area's elevation and proximity to the north Atlantic Ocean , rainfall is very heavy whenever frontal systems affect the region. Precipitation patterns follow the classic Mediterranean range, from October to April. The park also receives high snowfall starting as early as October and lasting well into spring season. The annual average temperature does not exceed 11 °C (52 °F). The city of Ifrane holds

3105-437: The attractiveness of the breeding migration or roosting sites for birds, flush birds, and otherwise increase the pressure on birds and their habitats (e.g., luring birds out of their hideouts and stressing them by playing their calls or exposing birds and their nests to predators). Furthermore, other impacts include disturbance to birds, the environment, local cultures and the economy. Methods to reduce negative impact and improve

3174-485: The birds are more active and vocal making them easier to spot. Certain locations such as a local patch of forest, wetland and coast may be favoured according to the location and season. Seawatching , or pelagic birding, is a type of birding where observers based at a coastal watch point, such as a headland, watch birds flying over the sea. This is one form of pelagic birding, though birders also seek pelagic species from seagoing vessels. Weather plays an important role in

3243-415: The conference of the parties and as full members of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel. The convention collaborates with a network of partners: This is the convention's governing body consisting of all governments that have ratified the treaty. This ultimate authority reviews progress under the convention, identifies new priorities, and sets work plans for members. The COP can also make amendments to

3312-432: The convention, create expert advisory bodies, review progress reports by member nations, and collaborate with other international organizations and agreements. The Standing Committee is the intersessional executive body which represents the COP between its triennial meetings, within the framework of the decisions made by the COP. The contracting parties that are members of the Standing Committee are elected by each meeting of

3381-551: The growing trade in feathers in the United States while the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds began in Britain. The phrase "bird watching" appeared for the first time as the title of the book Bird Watching by Edmund Selous in 1901. In North America, the identification of birds, once thought possible only by shooting, was made possible by the emergence of optics and field identification guides. The earliest field guide in

3450-458: The hobby is an aspect of ornithology, coordinated in the UK by the British Trust for Ornithology . The Cornell Lab of Ornithology hosts many citizen-science projects to track the number and distribution of bird species across North America. These surveys help scientists note major changes from year to year which may occur as a result of climate change , disease, predation, and other factors. Because of their accessibility and ubiquity, birds are

3519-483: The late 1980s. The income level of birders has been found to be well above average. The Sibley Guide to Birds , published in 2000, had sold 500,000 copies by 2002. It was found that the number of birdwatchers rose, but there appeared to be a drop in birdwatching in the backyard. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study, birders contributed $ 36 billion to the US economy in 2006, and one fifth (20%) of all Americans are identified as birdwatchers. According to

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3588-550: The networks, unlike the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) which like the Audubon Society originated from the bird protection movement. Like the AOU in North America, the BOU had a focus mainly on collection-based taxonomy. The BOU changed focus to ecology and behaviour only in the 1940s. The BTO movement towards 'organized birdwatching' was opposed by the RSPB, which claimed that

3657-403: The numbers of birdwatchers increases, there is growing concern about the impact of birdwatching on the birds and their habitat. Birdwatching etiquette is evolving in response to this concern. Some examples of birdwatching etiquette include promoting the welfare of birds and their environment, limiting use of photography, pishing and playback devices to mitigate stress caused to birds, maintaining

3726-417: The occurrence of rare birds. In Britain, suitable wind conditions may lead to drift migration , and an influx of birds from the east. In North America, birds caught in the tail-end of a hurricane may be blown inland. Birders may take part in censuses of bird populations and migratory patterns which are sometimes specific to individual species. These birdwatchers may also count all birds in a given area, as in

3795-589: The park. The park covers an area of 125,000 hectares (310,000 acres). Much of it is forested with Atlas cedar . The altitude varies between 1,300 and 2,400 metres (4,300 and 7,900 ft) including the cedar forest located in the province of Ifrane. The park contains one tenth of the Atlas Cedar in the world, one fourth of the world's population of the Barbary Macaque, and two Ramsar sites: the two lakes Afennourir and Tifounassine. The former monastery of Toumliline

3864-432: The person who watches birds for any reason at all, and should not be used to refer to the serious birder. Twitching is a British term used to mean "the pursuit of a previously located rare bird." In North America, it is more often called chasing . The term twitcher , sometimes misapplied as a synonym for birder , is reserved for those who travel long distances to see a rare bird that would then be ticked , or counted on

3933-410: The places they visit. In addition to this, birdwatching tourism is considered a niche market of nature-based tourism. Birdwatching and other niche tourism markets are good for market diversification and mitigating the impacts of seasonality in a tourism market as well as bringing economic resources to remote communities, thus diversifying their economies and contributing to biodiversity conservation. It

4002-501: The practice of fowling or hunting with firearms as in Shakespeare 's The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602): "She laments sir... her husband goes this morning a-birding." The terms birding and birdwatching are today used by some interchangeably, although some participants prefer birding , partly because it includes the auditory aspects of enjoying birds. In North America, many birders differentiate themselves from birdwatchers, and

4071-508: The radio in Eric Simms' Countryside program but this did not catch on. In the 1960s people began using the telephone and some people became hubs for communication. In the 1970s some cafés, such as that in Cley, Norfolk run by Nancy Gull, became centers for meeting and communication. This was replaced by telephone hotline services such as "Birdline" and "Bird Information Service". With the advent of

4140-684: The record of the lowest temperature ever observed in Africa: −23.9 °C (−11.0 °F) on February 11, 1935. The area has 1015 different plant species including the Atlas Cedar (Cedrus Atlantica), the Evergreen Oak (Quercus Ilex), the Algerian Oak (Quercus Canariensis), the Maritime Pine (Pinus Pinaster), and the Spanish Juniper (Juniperus Thunifera). Other tree species that exist in the park include

4209-536: The required recordings much more flexible than tape-based models. It is now possible to take a recording of every bird call you are likely to encounter in a given area out into the field stored on a device that will slip into your pocket and to retrieve calls for playback and comparison in any order you choose. As the technology continues to improve, researchers and hobby birders have started using convolutional neural networks to mine sound recordings to identify and track specific bird calls. Photography has always been

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4278-416: The serious to trivial, notifying others of rarities, questioning the taxonomy or identification of a species, discussing field guides and other resources, asking for advice and guidance, or organizing groups to help save habitats. Occasional postings are mentioned in academic journals and therefore can be a valuable resource for professional and amateur birders alike. One of the oldest, Birdchat (based in

4347-518: The term birder is unfamiliar to most lay people. At the most basic level, the distinction is perceived as one of dedication or intensity, though this is a subjective differentiation. Generally, self-described birders perceive themselves to be more versed in minutiae such as identification (aural and visual), molt, distribution, migration timing, and habitat usage. Whereas these dedicated birders may often travel specifically in search of birds, birdwatchers have been described by some enthusiasts as having

4416-517: The value of conservation are the subject of research. Many birders occupy themselves with observing local species (birding in their "local patch" ), but may also make specific trips to observe birds in other locales. The most active times of the year for birding in temperate zones are during the spring or fall migrations when the greatest variety of birds may be seen. On these occasions, large numbers of birds travel north or south to wintering or nesting locations. Early mornings are typically better as

4485-405: The visual characteristics of a bird, but also its patterns of movement and its sound, has wide applications for birders in the field. This class of product includes devices that can play (and in some cases record) a range of digital media, typically video, audio and still image files. Many modern digital cameras , mobile phones , and camcorders can be classified as portable media players . With

4554-473: The web; similarly, robotic cameras set up in largely inhospitable areas are being used to attempt the first photographs of the rare ivory-billed woodpecker . These systems represent new technologies in the birdwatcher's toolkit. In the early 1950s, the only way of communicating new bird sightings was through the postal system and it was generally too late for the recipients to act on the information. In 1953 James Ferguson-Lees began broadcasting rare bird news on

4623-420: Was aided by the availability of cars and their associated infrastructure. Nevertheless, distance to urban centres may still affect number of birdwatchers participating in observations of rare bird species. About 4% of North Americans were interested in birding in the 1970s, and in the mid-1980s at least 11% were found to watch birds at least 20 days of the year. The number of birders was estimated at 61 million in

4692-422: Was originally started as a club for "listers", but it now serves a much broader audience. Still, the ABA continues to publish an official annual report of North American list standings. Competitive birdwatching events include: Prominent national and continental organizations concerned with birding include the British Trust for Ornithology and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom, and

4761-864: Was signed in 1971. Every three years, representatives of the contracting parties meet as the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP), the policy-making organ of the convention which adopts decisions (site designations, resolutions and recommendations) to administer the work of the convention and improve the way in which the parties are able to implement its objectives. In 2022, COP14 was co-held in Wuhan, China, and Geneva, Switzerland. The list of wetlands of international importance included 2,331 Ramsar sites in May 2018 covering over 2.1 million square kilometres (810,000 sq mi). The countries with most sites are

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