Edited by Royal C. Gardner, Hugh F. Culverhouse Professor of Law and Director, Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy, Stetson University College of Law, USA, Richard Caddell, Reader in Marine and Environmental Law, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff University, UK and Erin Okuno, Assistant Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law, USA

Contents
Preface x
Introduction 1
Royal C Gardner, Richard Caddell, and Erin Okuno
PART I THE RAMSAR CONVENTION –
DEVELOPMENT AND INTERPRETATION
1 The Ramsar Convention at 50: Cultural narratives,
enlightenment, and the Wetland Conservation Project 19
Michael Bowman
2 The Ramsar Convention and the concept of consensus 52
Royal C. Gardner
3 Ramsar sites and their ecological character: A cornerstone
of the Ramsar Convention on wetlands 79
Royal C. Gardner, Marcela Bonells, and Katherine Pratt
4 The ‘wise use’ of wetlands 105
Edward J. Goodwin
5 Compensatory mechanisms and the loss of wetlands 131
Jerneja Penca
6 Indigenous peoples and local communities: Wetlands
management and the Ramsar Convention 153
Simon Marsden
PART II WETLANDS AND THE INTERNATIONAL
LEGAL ECOSYSTEM
7 Birds of a feather? The inter-relationship between the
Ramsar Convention and the migratory waterbird regimes 179
Melissa Lewis
8 The Ramsar Convention and the Convention on Biological
Diversity: Proposals for Enhanced Cooperation,
Synergies, and Interoperability for the Kunming-Montreal
Global Biodiversity Framework 202
Teresa Fajardo
9 The Ramsar Convention and general international water
law: Complementary and mutually supportive regimes 231
Owen McIntyre
10 The cultural values and services of wetlands: Evolution
and obligations under the Ramsar Convention 265
Evan Hamman
11 Wetlands, climate change, and international law 292
An Cliquet
12 ‘Within and without’: EU nature conservation law and the
protection of wetlands 319
Richard Caddell
13 Rights of wetlands and the Ramsar Convention 361
Erin Okuno