气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Forty-three years of ramsar and urban wetlands

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DOI	10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.02.009
	Forty-three years of ramsar and urban wetlands
	Hettiarachchi M.; Morrison T.H.; McAlpine C.
发表日期	2015
ISSN	0959-3780
卷号	32
英文摘要	The Ramsar Convention is unquestionably the backbone of modern wetland management theory and practice. In the last four decades, it has mainstreamed wetlands in the environmental discourse and fostered the development of a comprehensive institutional framework for wetland governance. However, many of the wetlands that occur in human-dominated landscapes remain acutely threatened. The problem is most alarming in urban areas, especially in the fast expanding cities of the developing world, where unprecedented wetland destruction is leading to recurring environmental disasters. This triggers the question: are these failures in wetland governance purely induced by factors exogenous to Ramsar-based institutions or are they manifestations of conceptual drawbacks within Ramsar conceptual framework. Here, we investigate the success and failures of the application of the Ramsar framework's policy directives and management guidelines for urban wetlands using two rapidly expanding cities in South Asia as case studies - Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Kolkata (India). We conclude that despite its remarkable achievements over the past four decades, the Ramsar framework has several conceptual drawbacks that weaken its effectiveness in complex urban contexts. An inadequate recognition of the complex dynamics of urban social-ecological systems, an inadequate recognition of the political complexity of the policy processes, and a lack of an environmental justice perspective are the main shortcomings contributing to failures in urban wetlands governance. While we acknowledge that some solutions are contingent upon national and transnational level socio-political processes and reforms, we offer a set of technical and strategic modifications to the Ramsar framework that can significantly improve its effectiveness in urban wetlands governance. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
英文关键词	Emerging cities; Environmental governance; Environmental justice; Ramsar convention; Urban socio-ecological systems
学科领域	developing world; environmental justice; governance approach; institutional framework; landscape; policy making; Ramsar Convention; urban area; wetland management; Colombo [Western Province]; India; Kolkata; Sri Lanka; West Bengal; Western Province [Sri Lanka]
语种	英语
scopus关键词	developing world; environmental justice; governance approach; institutional framework; landscape; policy making; Ramsar Convention; urban area; wetland management; Colombo [Western Province]; India; Kolkata; Sri Lanka; West Bengal; Western Province [Sri Lanka]
来源期刊	Global Environmental Change
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/117510
作者单位	The University of Queensland, School of Geography Planning and Environmental Management, Brisbane, 4072, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Hettiarachchi M.,Morrison T.H.,McAlpine C.. Forty-three years of ramsar and urban wetlands[J],2015,32.
APA	Hettiarachchi M.,Morrison T.H.,&McAlpine C..(2015).Forty-three years of ramsar and urban wetlands.Global Environmental Change,32.
MLA	Hettiarachchi M.,et al."Forty-three years of ramsar and urban wetlands".Global Environmental Change 32(2015).