Ramsar site

Ramsar sites are wetland wildlife conservation areas nominated by states parties to the convention signed at Ramsar, Iran in 1971.

Shape Files

The secretariat of the convention, [1] has confirmed that GIS shape files of Ramsar sites are in the public domain: osm-talk.

Shapefiles are available at [2] (registration required) for the following European countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland.

Datasets for other countries are visible on the Wetlands International site, but have not been made available for download. In some cases, e.g., the United Kingdom, this is likely to be for copyright reasons. Shapefiles are prepared by the countries themselves, so they may vary in the format of the shp-file (UTM, GEO,...)

Tagging

The precise tagging of the wide range of different categories of sites for nature conservation has not been worked out in any detail. Therefore this is only a tentative suggestion of how to tag Ramsar sites.

Sites should be tagged leisure=nature_reserve, and possibly landuse=conservation (see Proposed features/conservation), with an additional ramsar=yes. Care should be taken to not cause conflict with existing tags of a similar nature. Many Ramsar sites may contain explicit nature reserves (owned by conservation bodies) with different boundaries to the Ramsar site.

In addition Ramsar sites may be covered by other conservation categories, such as SSSI status in Great Britain, and SAC and SPAs in the European Union. A good example of this is Rutland Water, where the western shore is a nature reserve operated by the local Wildlife Trust and Anglian Water, and the whole reservoir is an SSSI, an SPA, and a Ramsar site.

Countries

Antigua and Barbuda

• Codrington Lagoon Map Map

Bulgaria

• Srebarna Nature Reserve Map Map

Cyprus

• Larnaca salt lake Map Map

Hungary

• Bodrogzug Map Map
• Felsö-Tisza Map Map
• Hortobágy Map Map
• Ipoly-völgy Map Map

Iceland

• Grunnafjördur Map Map
• Thjórsárver Map Map
• Mývatn-Laxá Map Map

Japan

• Yatsu-higata (谷津干潟) Map Map

Mexico

Site number	Code	Name	Designation date	Map
0332	MEX-001	Humedal de Importancia Especialmente para la Conservación de Aves Acuáticas Reserva Ría Lagartos	04-07-1986	map map
1322	MEX-010	Laguna de Tecocomulco	27-11-2003	Map Map
1323	MEX-011	Parque Nacional Isla Contoy	27-11-2003	Map Map
1324	MEX-012	Parque Nacional Isla Isabel	27-11-2003	Map Map
1326	MEX-014	Playa Tortuguera Rancho Nuevo	27-11-2003	Map Map
1327	MEX-015	Playa Tortuguera Tierra Colorada	27-11-2003	Map Map
1338	MEX-025	Laguna de Sayula	02-02-2004	Map Map
1345	MEX-032	Islas Marietas	02-02-2004	Map Map
1357	MEX-044	Reserva de la Biosfera Archipiélago de Revillagigedo	02-02-2004	Map Map
1359	MEX-046	Isla San Pedro Mártir	02-02-2004	Map Map
1603	MEX-063	Isla Rasa	02-02-2006	Map Map
1791	MEX-091	Estero El Chorro	02-02-2008	Map Map

Portugal

• Fajã dos Cubres (Azores) Map Map

Spain

• List of Ramsar sites in Spain

Turkey

• Akyatan Lagoon Map Map
• Gediz Delta Map Map
• Göksu Delta Map Map
• Kuş Gölü Map Map
• Kizören Obrouk Map Map
• Kuş Gölü Map Map
• Lake Burdur Map Map
• Lake Seyfe Map Map
• Meke Maar Map Map
• Sultan Marshes Map Map
• Uluabat Gölü Map Map
• Yumurtalik Lagoons Map Map
• Lake Kuyucuk Map Map

Links

• Ramsar sites by country and with centre-point coordinates
• Ramsar sites in order of their designation
• Shape files (registration required)