Tools and Data

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.

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

Freely Accessible

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

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).

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

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

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.

http://www.ramsar.org