The pact targets marshes, swamps, mangroves and other shallow areas of water that can be flooded permanently or temporarily and Guyana has mangroves, conservancies, sand and shell beaches, estuaries of many rivers, mudflats, lagoons, creeks, seasonally flooded forests and savannah and canals that provide many goods and services for people.

People use wetlands to get water for drinking, birds, fish,wood, palms and for crops and many animals and fish rely on such locations for spawning and feeding.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) said wetlands are also important in reducing floods and this country gets to drink, too, from underground stores that are refilled from those which are used for tourism, boating, fishing and hunting.

The Ramsar Convention was signed in 1971 and recognised in 1975 when it was ushered into existence because of people's concern over loss of wetlands in the world.

The covenant focuses on the particular type of ecosystem and all countries which sign it are obligated to list important wetland sites, ensure they are used wisely, establish management systems for them and carry out training to manage the reserves in cooperation with others.

GINA said the recent workshop discussed a strategy for managing wetlands in Guyana and recommendations were made with respect to planning for the future process, including to strengthen public sector capacity for management through collaboration with institutions, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local communities.

The proposals said those agencies will determine sources for accessing financial assistance for co-management, among them a wetlands fund, review existing policy and legislative frameworks to rationalise national approach to managing, clearly determining the lead agency to coordinate efforts.

The agencies will, as well, integrate wetlands management issues into present environment and wildlife clubs and use radar imagery to examine the distribution in this country and create plans for listed sites, defining the institutional basis also for complete resource evaluation.