These reports are generally very open and honest, and reveal problems in meeting the requirements under the convention. They may act as a basis for inclusion in the Montreux Record, or for offers of help from other parties. Despite all the efforts of the Ramsar Convention and others, it is clear that wetlands are still being lost in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. And I have no doubt that the same is true all over the Mediterranean. A specific problem in the Mediterranean is the link between water and wetlands.
Many countries have a national water supply policy.
Another problem in the Mediterranean is the lack of management measures at wetlands. Management plans are too often concerned with only one sector. At national level, the Ramsar Convention has called for the establishment of national Ramsar Committees. More and more of these are being established, but there are still not enough, and they do not always include all the appropriate participants, i.e., all the wetland actors, all the administrations, all the NGOs. At international level, the establishment of the Mediterranean Wetland Committee, in connection with the MedWet initiative, is an effort by Ramsar to develop international communications between states of the Mediterranean, and thus to promote a regional approach to implementation of the Convention.