Ramsar and the Backrooms of Global Water Politics
Post, Marcelo Ballvé, Jun 13, 2007
 What is Ramsar? Ramsar is shorthand for the international Ramsar Convention on Wetlands—an important and yet low-profile intergovernmental treaty named for the place where it was signed, Ramsar, Iran, in 1971.
Think of it as the United Nations for water. It is arguably the most powerful organization overseeing the world's water—especially freshwater—resources, though very few people know of its existence, or the relatively unconventional manner in which it operates.
Though it is fashionable in journalistic and academic circles to talk of water as "the oil of the future" and hyperventilate over future nightmare scenarios in which water shortages will drive resource conflicts and price wars, there has still been little attention paid to the Ramsar Convention, which operates a secretariat headquartered in Gland, Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva. Ramsar has some curious financial backers, such as Groupe Danone, which owns the Evian water brand, but more on that later.
So far, 154 nations—from Albania to Zambia—have signed on as member states or contracting parties to Ramsar, which as far as treaties go has a fairly flexible and nonbinding structure. It promises nations a great deal of technical and financial support in wetland conservation activities, while requiring few concrete commitments on their part. The convention encourages member states to identify wetlands for inclusion in a list of "Wetlands of International Importance." This list is known as the "Ramsar list," and currently contains over 1,600 sites, including rivers, deltas, marshes, lagoons, etcetera. Once a wetland or body of water is included in it, certain conservation principles begin to apply to it. Most important among these perhaps, is the Ramsar "wise use" clause, which in practice binds countries and their laws, policies and actions to a sustainable use of the wetland.
According to the Ramsar convention, "Wise use of wetlands is the maintenance of their ecological character, achieved through the implementation of ecosystem approaches, within the context of sustainable development." The language is a bit vague, and there are no sharp teeth in the convention to ensure compliance. Certainly though, a country that built an airport over a Ramsar site would no doubt be black-flagged in conservation circles. So Ramsar in a sense is no different from any number of do-good international treaties, painstakingly trying to promote sustainable practices around the planet with more carrots than sticks.
Sounds good right? In a concrete, present-day sense Ramsar is undoubtedly a good thing. It is now assisting countries in placing controls on the development of wetlands, which if left unprotected might be polluted, asphalted over, or bled dry without second thought.
But who are the interested parties, and what are their motivations? Like the United Nations, Ramsar is funded by member states. Unlike the United Nations however, Ramsar has the benefit of counting on the United States as a generous contributor to a huge chunk of its budget, exceeding its obligations. Last year for example, according to Ramsar financial statements, the U.S. government made a "voluntary contribution" of 837,000 Swiss francs, or roughly 20 percent of total member state funding for Ramsar. The Swiss government, through tax breaks and funding for specific initiatives, is also a particularly generous contributor.
Another defining characteristic of Ramsar is its close ties with private corporations, most notably Groupe Danone, makers of Evian bottled water. In March 2004, Danone and Ramsar signed a "protocol of cooperation," which according to Ramsar Secretary General Peter Bridgewater strengthened and intensified prior partnerships between Ramsar and Danone. In 2004, Danone and Ramsar executives celebrated their partnership drinking Evian water, toasting to " a world where life is a little less uncertain." In practice, Danone has been funding an array of awareness campaigns and direct action projects implemented by Ramsar.
At the recent 35th meeting of the Ramsar standing committee on Feb. 12, 2007, the finance subgroup heard reports on "promising developments concerning continuation of support from Danone/Evian," according to Ramsar records available online. Also, there were reports on the developing private sector linkages with the Star Alliance … and with BHP-Billiton in relation to Neotropical initiatives."
"Star Alliance" refers to the oldest airline alliance in the world, which groups together the services of companies such as United, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Swiss and Singapore Airlines. Australia-based BHP-Billiton calls itself the "world's largest diversified resources company," distinguished by its "diversification across countries, commodities and markets." Its interests include copper, nickel, uranium, aluminum, and gas and oil production; the company also has interests in diamonds, titanium and coal.
Of course it is customary for global corporations, especially large ones, to enter into partnerships with charitable or environmental organizations in order to burnish their images with good PR. But Ramsar, with its well-documented and heavily researched network of wetlands, is no ordinary conservation NGO. It is worth asking why the U.S. and Swiss governments, and companies like Evian and BHP-Billiton —devoted to the capitalization of natural resources—are interested in Ramsar. Seen from one perspective, Ramsar is doing the good work of conservation. Seen from another, it is offering a kind of politically correct glove with which corporations can blamelessly begin feeling out the water sources, and water technocracies of the future.
Another interesting linkage is between Ramsar and other para-governmental conservation groups. Most importantly, Ramsar operates within the headquarters building of the IUCN or World Conservation Union; in legal terms Ramsar staff are IUCN personnel. The IUCN is a member association that includes NGOs, foundations and nation-states on its roster. Its mission is species and ecosystem conservation, and it is governed by directors elected at the union's congresses. Among the most important donors are governments, corporations (including oil and energy companies) and foundations linked to corporations.
Ramsar also cooperates with the International Water Management Institute, a research organization with projects in over 20 countries. Its principal funding comes from the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research or CGIAR, which is closely associated with the World Bank.
Idea Magazine will continue to investigate this story.
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