To raise awareness about their importance, 2 February each year is celebrated as World Wetlands Day (WWD). It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. Government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community encourage all to increase awareness of the importance of sustainable freshwater use, management and protection, make voluntary contributions and to lend other forms of support.

The Ramsar Bureau (http://www.ramsar.org/), the secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, is housed by IUCN - The World Conservation Union in its headquarters building in Gland, Switzerland, on Lac Léman (Lake Geneva).