Tools and Data

Tool

Ramsar Wetlands Data Gateway

The Ramsar Sites Information Service (RSIS) includes the searchable Ramsar Sites Database with information on wetlands of international importance. It also provides a number of other utilities, including a WebGIS displaying spatial information on Ramsar sites and downloadable GIS data of the Ramsar sites (spatial boundary and/or location). Official Information Sheets on Ramsar Wetlands (RIS) can also be accessed via the RSIS.

Tool Builder

The Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) is operated for NASA by the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) of Columbia University.

Tool Cost

Freely Accessible

Tool Help

Questions about the Ramsar Data Gateway can be answered by sending email to ciesin.info@ciesin.columbia.edu or by calling 845-365-8920.

Data Source

Ramsar Sites Database

The Ramsar Sites Database contains data from each "Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands" that is completed by the Contracting Parties to the "Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat" (Ramsar, Iran, 1971).

Geospatial Coverage

Data on 1,743 international sites (161,177,358 hectares) designated as protected wetlands in accordance with the Convention on Wetlands.

Temporal Coverage

The data in the Ramsar Data Gateway reflect the Ramsar Sites Database as of 2008.

Data Provider

The Ramsar Sites Database is maintained by Wetlands International, http://www.wetlands.org/. Wetlands International has also provided a GIS map server with wetland locations and a similar tool to the one originally built by CIESIN.

Data Help