Ramsar Site Management Plan

Why is Mai Po designated as a Ramsar Site?

Each of the signatory countries to the Ramsar Convention has to designate at least one internationally important wetland in their country following a set of criteria. Currently, China has 21 Ramsar Sites (including Poyang Lake, Jiangxi Province; Dongting Lake, Hunan Province; Dongzaigang Nature Reserve, Hainan Province; Niaodao, Qinghai Province; Xianghai Nature Reserve, Jilin Province; Zhalong Marshes, Heilongjiang Province; Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay, Hong Kong SAR) (see map below).

Xianghai Nature Reserve Zhalong Marshes Niaodao Dongting Lake Poyang Lake Dongzaigang Nature Reserve Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay

Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay were formally designated as a Ramsar Site on 5 September 1995 after years of lobbying by WWF Hong Kong. Below is a table showing how Mai Po meets the listing criteria:

Criteria of a Ramsar Site

• It is a particularly good representation of a natural or near-natural wetland, characteristic of one, or common to more than one, biogeographical region.
• It supports an appreciable assemblage of rare, vulnerable, or endangered species of plants or animals.
• It holds more than 20,000 waterbirds.
• It holds more than 1% of the individuals in the population of a species of waterbird

How Mai Po meets the criteria

• The stand of mangrove forest round Deep Bay/Mai Po is the sixth largest remaining along the coast of China, and the reedbed is one of the largest in Guangdong Province
• 12 endangered waterbirds species occur in Mai Po. In addition, over 20 species of invertebrates new to science have been found there.
• Mai Po regularly holds over 20,000 wintering waterbirds. In January, 1996 over 68,000 waterbirds were recorded in the Mai Po/Deep Bay wetlands.
• Mai Po holds over 1% of the individuals in the population of 11 species of waterbirds. In particular about 23% of the world population of the Black-faced Spoonbill, Platalea minor, winters at Mai Po.