What Does It Mean to Live Next to a Ramsar Site?

18 May 2026

Scotland has 51 internationally designated wetlands. Most people living beside them have no idea – and that’s exactly one of the problems we’re working to solve. 

Imagine walking along a shoreline at dusk, watching wading birds pick their way across the mudflats. What you may not know is that this place is part of a site of international conservation significance – protected under one of the world’s oldest environmental treaties. For thousands of people along Scotland’s coasts, this is the everyday reality. The Firth of Forth Ramsar Site (Ramsar Site 1111, covering 6,314 hectares) stretches along the Edinburgh waterfront past Granton, Cramond, and beyond – yet most residents have no idea it exists. 

Our work at the Protected Areas Foundation aims to change that – making Ramsar and other nationally designated site information accessible and genuinely useful for the communities who need it most. 

The Designation and Its Significance 

The Ramsar Convention, signed in Ramsar, Iran and adopted in 1971, is the only international mechanism specifically dedicated to protecting wetlands of global importance. Scotland currently has 51 Ramsar sites covering approximately 313,000 hectares, sixteen of which contribute to the Scottish Marine Protected Area network. All are aligned with Sites of Special Scientific Interest and most overlap with Special Protection Areas or Special Areas of Conservation. 

The Firth of Forth site was designated in 2001 under two Ramsar criteria: it regularly supports more than 72,000 waterfowl (Criterion 5) and holds internationally important populations of pink-footed goose, common redshank, Slavonian grebe, red knot, and bar-tailed godwit (Criterion 6). It is also a BirdLife International Important Bird Area for 14 species. Despite this, 9 of its designated bird species were assessed as being in unfavourable condition in 2015 and no dedicated Ramsar Site Management Plan currently exists for the site. 

The site faces documented pressures: recreational disturbance, pollution from sewage and urban run-off, shoreline development, fishing pressure, and introduction of non-indigenous species. Yet community groups are already acting – including Edinburgh Shoreline, Wardie Bay Beach Watch, Western Harbour Ponds, and Granton Community Gardeners – often without knowing the full international significance of the habitat they are caring for. 

Our Work: Bridging the Information Gap

Working with Edinburgh Shoreline, the Protected Areas Foundation has developed two outputs: nationally-relevant plain-language guidance on what Ramsar designations mean in Scotland, and co-designed site-specific briefs for locations where community groups are active. The Granton Area brief – the first of these – sets out the boundaries, conservation objectives, pressures, and management implications of the Firth of Forth Ramsar Site in accessible terms. It is a living document, and we are already being approached by other communities wanting the same work done for other Ramsar sites and other site designations.

Obligations without awareness are meaningless. When people don’t know what a Ramsar site is, they can’t advocate for it. When a volunteer picks up litter on Cramond Beach or casts oysters into the sea, they are stewards of an internationally important wetland. Making Scotland’s Ramsar sites legible to the communities who live alongside them is central to how these places will fare in the decades ahead. 

A Promising Restoration Tool: Tree Reefs 

One of the most exciting emerging approaches in coastal restoration is the deployment of tree reefs. Presented at Seagriculture 2025 by researcher Jon Dickson of NIOZ, the concept restores a simple ecological reality: before rivers were managed, vast quantities of fallen timber reached the sea, creating complex three-dimensional seabed habitat. Globally rivers export an estimated five million cubic metres less driftwood than historically – meaning missing substrate for seaweeds, shellfish, and fish. 

Tree reefs – constructed from biodegradable waste timber and placed on the seabed – mimic that lost structure. The evidence is compelling: within two and a half years, fish abundance at reef sites is 215-359% higher, with fish six times more abundant, 10% larger, and seven times more biodiverse than at control sites. Crab catch fell 77% at monitored sites, restoring top-down predatory control that allows shellfish and seagrass to recover (Jon Dixon et al 2023). Shellfish colonising the reef also filter two to eight litres of water per minute each, directly addressing the pollution pressures documented at the Firth of Forth. As the wood degrades, a permanent living shellfish reef remains – self-building, low-carbon compared to concrete alternatives, and requiring no removal. 

Community groups in the Granton area are already active in oyster and seagrass restoration – and have shown an interest in tree reefs, which could powerfully complement ongoing conservation efforts through restoring ecosystems which provide for the abundant birdlife of the site. Working with Tree Reefs is just one of the strategies likely to be captured in the development of a Management Concept for the area, a critical part of our ongoing collaboration with Edinburgh Shoreline.