The Montreux Record and the Ramsar Advisory Missions
The Montreux Record is a register of wetland sites on the List of Wetlands of International Importance where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological developments, pollution or other human interference. It is maintained as part of the Ramsar List. The Montreux Record was established by Recommendation 4.8 of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (1990). Resolution 5.4 of the Conference (1993) determined that the Montreux Record should be employed to identify priority sites for positive national an international conservation attention. As they expressed it in Resolution VIII.8 (2002), the Parties believe that “the voluntary inclusion of a particular site on the Montreux Record is a useful tool available to Contracting Parties in circumstances where:
1) demonstrating national commitment to resolve the adverse changes would assist
in their resolution; 2) highlighting particularly serious cases would be beneficial at
national and/or international level; 3) positive national and international conservation attention would benefit the site; and/or 4) inclusion on the Record would provide guidance in the allocation of resources available under financial mechanisms.”
Resolution VI.1 (1996) established more precise procedures for the use of the Montreux Record mechanism, with guidelines on the steps to be taken for including Ramsar sites on the Record and removing sites from it. Sites may be added to and removed from the Record only with the approval of the Contracting Parties in which they lie. As of September 2007, 59 Ramsar sites are present in the Montreux Record – 23 sites which had been listed on the Montreux Record have since been removed from it (though one of those has been placed upon it again). At the request of the Contracting Party concerned, the Secretariat may send a technical mission, known as the “Ramsar Advisory Mission”, to analyze the situation at one or more particular Montreux Record sites, provide advice on the measures to be taken, and assess the desirability of removing a site from the Montreux Record when measures have been implemented successfully