Speaking at a launch today to mark World Wetlands Day, Dr Sharman Stone, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage said the new sites, as well as extensions to the four existing sites, were priorities because each possesses unique wetland values and characteristics. In 1971, in the Iranian town of Ramsar, representatives from 18 countries signed one of the world's first global environmental treaties, a Convention to protect wetland ecosystems. Both nationally and internationally, Australia is considered to be at the forefront of protecting and managing its wetlands, particularly its Ramsar sites. Australia listed the world's very first Ramsar site in 1974, the Cobourg Peninsula Aboriginal Land and Wildlife Sanctuary in the Northern Territory, and was one of the first signatories to the Ramsar Convention. I am very proud that with the help of the Natural Heritage Trust, Australia has just become the first Contracting Party to release its National Wetland Education Action Plan , which facilitates community education about our wetlands.
Wetlands are the vital link between land and water.
They are essential to the healthy functioning of catchments and aquatic systems and deliver a multitude of benefits including water purification and flood mitigation. While Australia is doing an excellent job in protecting and conserving our wetlands, there is plenty that communities can do in their local areas to encourage the wise use of wetlands. Examples of this geomorphological sequence in good condition and with protected status are also rare worldwide, and the sedgelands that occur within the wetland depressions are on the national list of threatened ecological communities. It is also important for moulting by thousands of Australian Shelduck and as drought refuge for thousands of ducks and shorebirds.