Ramsar Manual (guide to the Convention)
Contracting Parties (member States)
Classification System for Wetland
The definition of wetland adopted by the Ramsar Convention covers coastal and marine as well as inland wetland ecosystems. Concerning coastal and marine wetlands, the Ramsar definition includes areas "with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres" (Article 1.1 of the Convention).Furthermore, concerning the inclusion of marine and coastal wetlands in the List of Wetlands of International Importance under the Convention, Article 2.1 indicates that "they may incorporate riparian and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six metres at low tide lying within the wetlands." Thus the coverage of the Ramsar Convention and the commitments of its Contracting Parties importantly include coastal and marine ecosystems as well as inland ecosystems.
Criteria for identifying Ramsar sitesRamsar Information Sheet (RIS)and examples
Ramsar sites(Wetlands of International Importance)
Louisiana Wetlands
General Description of Wetlands
Louisiana’s coastal wetlands were built up by Mississippi River floodwaters depositing enormous volumes of sediment and nutrients on the continental shelf at its mouth. These sediments were eroded from the lands of the vast Mississippi River basin in the interior of North America. For the last several thousand years, the dominance of the land building or deltaic processes resulted in a net increase of more than 4 million acres of coastal wetlands. In addition, there was the creation of an extensive skeleton of higher natural levee ridges along the past and present Mississippi River channels, distributaries, and bayous in the deltaic plain and beach ridges of the chenier deltaic plain. The landscape this produced gave rise to one of the most productive ecosystems on earth. Only the most intensively managed agricultural systems that are artificially subsidized by large inputs of energy and fertilizer could possibly rival the ability of these estuarine wetlands to convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into biomass.
http://www.lca.gov/
Today, most of the Mississippi River’s freshwater with its nutrients and sediments are channeled out to the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, bypassing the coastal wetlands where they would otherwise naturally build land and nourish the estuarine ecosystems. Deprived of the sediments provided by the deltaic processes, the estuarine wetlands continue to sink, or subside, as they have always done, but without the net land building effect of the unconstrained natural deltaic processes. Deprived of the natural sustenance provided by the nutrients available in the intermittently flooded zone in which they are adapted to live, the plants that define the surface of the coastal wetlands die off. Once the coastal wetlands are denuded, the fragile substrate is left exposed to - and unprotected from - the erosive tidal environment.
biological, socio-economic and cultural values through their provision of a wide range of goods and services to people and their livelihoods, as well as through their contribution to the maintenance of biological diversity. In addition to the services they provide in relation to storm and flood control and related issues of water management, goods provided by coastal wetlands which can be vital for the health, safety and welfare of local populations include fruit, fish and shellfish, waterbird, deer, crocodile and other meats, resins, timber for building, fuel wood, reeds for thatching and weaving, fodder for animals, medicinal plants, fertile land for agriculture, agricultural products, water supply, and water transport. http://www.ramsar.org/key_guide_iczm_e.htm
Wildlife Habitat
Louisiana’s coast is at the end of the Central and Mississippi flyways, and nearly 70 percent of the waterfowl migrating along these flyways winter on the Louisiana coast. Coastal Louisiana also provides critical stopover habitat for neotropical migratory songbirds, as well as other avian species. Coastal Louisiana also provides critical nesting habitat for many species of water birds such as the endangered brown pelican. These economic and habitat values, which depend on the biological productivity of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, merit national attention.
http://www.lca.gov/
Study area
Ecosystems
Wetland Types
Wetland Protection
Coastal Louisiana has lost over 900,000 acres since the 1930s. As recently as the 1970s, the loss rate for Louisiana’s coastal wetlands was as high as 25,600 acres per year. The current rate of loss is about 16,000 acres per year. It is estimated that coastal Louisiana will experience a 320,000-acre net loss by the year 2050. The cumulative effect of human activities in the coastal area has been to drastically tilt the natural balance from the net land building deltaic processes to land loss due to altered hydrology, subsidence, and erosion. Approximately 30 percent of the land losses being experienced in coastal Louisiana are due to natural causes. The remaining 70 percent are attributable to man’s effect on the environment, both direct and indirect.
Federal History
Federal Current Programs
International Division
State Current Programs
Coastal Restoration
Any plan to benefit Louisiana's coastal wetlands must include restoration and enhancement of the natural processes that first created this ecosystem. http://www.lacoast.gov/reports/cwcrp/1993/resrc.htm
Louisiana Coastal Zone Management
The Coastal Management Division (CMD) of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources is charged with implementing the Louisiana Coastal Resources Program (LCRP) under authority of the State and Local Coastal Resources Management Act., as amended (Act 361, La. R.S. 49:214.21 et seq).
This law seeks to protect, develop, and, where feasible, restore or enhance the resources of the state’s coastal zone. Its broad intent is to encourage multiple uses of resources and adequate economic growth while minimizing adverse effects of one resource use upon another without imposing undue restrictions on any user.
Besides striving to balance conservation and resources, the guidelines and policies of the LCRP also help to resolve user conflicts, encourage coastal zone recreational values, and determine the future course of coastal development and conservation. The guidelines are designed so that development in the Coastal Zone can be accomplished with the greatest benefit and the least amount of damage.
The LCRP is an effort among Louisiana citizens, as well as state, federal and local advisory and regulatory agencies. http://www.dnr.state.la.us/crm/coastmgt/coastmgt.asp
Coastal Management Division, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, 19980624, Louisiana Coastal Zone Boundary, Geographic NAD83, LDNR (1998) [zongeog3dpcoa]: Coastal Management Division, LDNR, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
West_Bounding_Coordinate: -93.92
East_Bounding_Coordinate: -88.74
North_Bounding_Coordinate: +30.44
South_Bounding_Coordinate: +28.90
area of coastal zone boundary in square meters (Source: LSU Department of Geography and Anthropology) a single value, 38624724005 square meters perimeter of coastal zone polygon in meters (Source: LSU Department of Geography and Anthropology)
a single value, 1894382 meters area of coastal zone polygon in acres (Source: LSU Department of Geography and Anthropology)a single value, 9544339 acres
No comments:
Post a Comment