Wetlands for Life
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2012 Awards
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Wetland Voting Map
Awards Information
The Wetland Globes were developed by the World Wetland Network to encourage best practice in wetland management. They are non-financial awards, and will be given to the wetland itself – we welcome representatives connected to the wetland to receive the award at the Ramsar COP in Romania.
The awards are divided into two categories. Blue recognises best practice in wetland management and grey highlights wetlands that are being actively degraded or neglected (we previously had a green award for 'restored' wetlands, but have since decided that two awards is more effective). We will deliver these awards for each continent at the Ramsar international wetlands Conference in 2012. If you would like to help promote the award, please download our poster (300Kb) and display it for us!
Voting is now closed for 2012, but you can see which votes have been given on our maps.
Blue Globe Award
This award celebrates wetlands that are being well-managed for species and habitat, that have a healthy engagement of the local population and that provide goods and benefits. We can learn from these cases, and will use the winners to develop case studies of successful approaches. The specific criteria that we will use include:
- Participation and involvement (of local people)
- Sustainable livelihoods
- Wetland benefits
- Management for wildlife and biodiversity
Grey Globe Award
With increasing pressures on wetlands from human activities, particularly economic and development sectors, and impacts from climate change and invasive species, many wetlands are being rapidly degraded. Even if this is not an active process, neglect of wetlands can be just as harmful. This award will be less popular, but will act to draw attention to the wetland, prompting action to reverse the situation. The criteria are:
- Industrial and agricultural impact / pollution
- Habitat / species loss
- Unsustainable development (e.g. building, man-made structures, drainage and over-abstraction and reclamation)
- Exclusion of local communities in decision-making