The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, referred to as the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. This agreement is most often called the Ramsar Convention, as it was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar on February 2nd 1971.

As of February 2nd, 2011, the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Ramsar Convention, 160 parties had signed the treaty and 1,912 wetland sites had been designated as Wetlands of International Importance or ‘Ramsar Sites’.

The United Kingdom signed the Ramsar Convention on May 5th 1976 and extended the adoption of this treaty to its Overseas Territories including Bermuda. To date the UK has 168 designated Ramsar sites, (more than any other signatory country), 7 of which are in Bermuda.

Designated Ramsar sites in Bermuda:

Spittal Pond

This site is the only Bermudian example of a non-tidal, permanent, shallow, brackish lagoon with fringing mudflats, mangroves, and marsh grasses. The site is subject to periodic sea-flooding and the mudflats are exposed during low water levels. It is important to wintering waterfowl. View map.

Hungry Bay Mangrove Swamp

This site is Bermuda’s second largest tidal mangrove swamp, located on the southern coastline in a shallow sea bay with a relatively narrow opening to the ocean. The area supports important populations of endangered land crabs. View map.

Lover’s Lake Nature Reserve

This site features a 2 m deep brackish water lake fringed with black mangroves. The water level is tidal and rises and falls through subterranean channels. The area is important for an endemic species of killifish (Fundulus relictus) as well as both wintering and passage waterfowl. View map.

Pembroke Marsh East

This site is an extensive freshwater Typha sp. and Cladium sp. marsh with some open water channels up to 3 m deep. It supports a wide variety of passage and wintering waterfowl. View map.

Paget Marsh

This site is the largest surviving remnant of Bermuda’s pre-colonial swamp forest, inclusive of marshy savannah, mangrove swamp, and peat marsh forest, showing all stages of ecological succession. Endemic palmettos, cedars, and sedges are found here. View map.

Warwick Pond

This site is Bermuda’s largest freshwater pond with mudflats at the north end and a broad fringing marsh of cattails. It is important to a population of endemic killifish, both resident and migratory waterfowl, as well as transient shorebirds. View map.

Somerset Long Bay Pond

This site is a former tidal swamp that was filled in with garbage and then restored into a shallow brackish water pond with mangrove islets, separated from the sea by a beach dune. View map.