Date of Award

Summer 5-15-2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Global Governance and Human Security

First Advisor

Stacy D. VanDeveer

Second Advisor

Maria Ivanova

Third Advisor

Paul Kowert

Abstract

Humans have destroyed wetlands at rapid rates. The Ramsar Convention is the world's premier treaty for protecting wetlands of international importance. This dissertation evaluates how the US translated policy into practice for the Ramsar Convention, between 1986 and 2018, by measuring reporting compliance. Following three in-person visits to Ramsar Convention wetlands and research in the US National Archives, document analyses of national reports and related documents were conducted on local, national, and international sources. The diverse sources lead to an interdisciplinary analysis of US policy action. In order, Chapter 2 quantified support for the Ramsar Convention in the US by political affiliation. Chapter 3 documented the rise of China and decline in the US Ramsar Convention leadership. Chapter 4 compared progress on gender reporting across Ramsar Convention parties. Chapter 5 quantified US the gap between local, national, and international disability mainstreaming norms. Chapter 6 examined technological gaps and ecological site reporting due every six years. In terms of lessons, the US has room for growth in answering section H on gender reporting. Second, the US provided disability and accessibility information for less than half of Ramsar Convention sites nationally, in contrast to emergent international norms. Third the United States exhibits low rates of ecological site reporting on RIS reports. Finally, US leadership on the Ramsar Convention waned, despite domestic bipartisan support. Given these data points and US resources relative to peer nations, this dissertation contends that the failure to report is a symptom and cause of US implementation gaps. US implementation failures, and the continued rates of wetland destruction nationally, raise the more critical question of whether the Ramsar Convention’s original implementation goals need to evolve.

Comments

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