(Trend News Agency) – Uzbekistan is preparing a package of documents for inclusion of the three reservoirs of the country in the Ramsar List, the press service of the Ecological Movement of the Republic said.

The Convention uses a broad definition of the types of wetlands covered in its mission, including swamps and marshes, lakes and rivers, wet grasslands and peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, near-shore marine areas, mangroves and coral reefs, and human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and salt pans.
The Convention Secretariat publishes technical and information materials and maintains a number of electronic communication tools, including a comprehensive Web site and electronic mailing lists. For World Wetlands Day, 2 February every year, the Secretariat prepares a number of promotional and educational materials for wide distribution free of charge. The Convention publishes a series of Ramsar Handbooks presenting the guidelines adopted by the Conference of the Parties in the areas of: wise use of wetlands; national wetland policies; laws and institutions; wetland and river basin management; community participation; public awareness; water allocation; coastal management; wetland inventory; and international cooperation. These are updated as appropriate and available electronically.

Particularly, Uzbekistan hopes to include Sudochie lakes system (Republic of Karakalpakstan, the country’s north-west), the Amu Darya River floodplain near the Termez (Surkhandarya region), Achikkul Lake in Kashkadarya region, located in the south of the Republic in the Ramsar List. The inclusion of wetlands in the Ramsar List will enhance security measures in these areas, Ecology Movement said.

The Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) – called the Ramsar Convention – is an intergovernmental treaty that embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the “wise use”, or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories. Unlike the other global environmental conventions, Ramsar is not affiliated with the United Nations system of Multilateral Environmental Agreements, but it works very closely with the other MEAs (multilateral environment agreements) and is a full partner among the “biodiversity-related cluster” of treaties and agreements.

The convention ratified by 160 countries around the world at the moment. About 1.9 thousand lands with total area of 1.836 million km² are included in the Ramsar List. Uzbekistan joined to the Ramsar Convention in 2001. At present Dengizkul Lake with area of 31.3 hectares, located in Bukhara area and Aydar-Arnasai lake system is included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

The total area of wetlands in the country is about one million hectares and numbers over 500 lakes. Migrations of many species of waterfowl pass through the territory of Uzbekistan, and in this regard, particularly important to protect their habitat, the preservation of the natural potential of wetlands.