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28-904: The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia , Albania and Greece . It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus : the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greece. They are the highest tectonic lakes in the Balkans , at an elevation of 853 metres (2,799 ft). The area contains three national parks: Galičica National Park in North Macedonia, Prespa National Park in Albania, and Prespa National Park in Greece. The largest town in

56-470: Is a searchable database which provides information on each Ramsar site. As of 2016 there are 18 transboundary Ramsar sites, and 15 Ramsar regional initiatives covering regions of the Mediterranean, Asia, Africa, and South America. The Ramsar Convention works closely with six other organisations known as international organization partners (IOPs). These are: These organizations support the work of

84-468: The South Pole in a point of elevenfold complexity, though this is an example of points subject to dispute . International tripoints include: Some historic tripoints: While the exact line of an international border is normally fixed by a bilateral treaty, the position of the tripoints may need to be settled by a trilateral agreement. For example, China, Russia, and Mongolia have set the position of

112-508: The territorial waters ), and the same goes for countries with their only neighbour country, such as Portugal or Lesotho . Landlocked countries also have international tripoints. Likewise, the United States with two neighbouring countries has no international tripoints; however, it has a number of state tripoints as well as one point where four states meet . Indonesia has no international tripoints, just like Australia, Japan and

140-694: The COP between its triennial meetings, within the framework of the decisions made by the COP. The contracting parties that are members of the Standing Committee are elected by each meeting of the COP to serve for the three years. The Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) provides scientific and technical guidance to the Conference of Contracting Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Ramsar Secretariat. The Secretariat carries out

168-595: The Greek territory, carrying an embankment with a road connecting the village of Psarades . A short stretch of a canal connects the lakes on the western side of the isthmus. In Classical times, the Prespa region formed part of ancient Lynkestis , and the lakes were called Little and Great Brygeis. In the 10th century, the Tsar Samuil built the fortress and church of St. Achillius on an island called Agios Achillios in

196-693: The Lake Prespa Ramsar site, and was eventually included on 3 July 2013. In 2018, Great Prespa Lake was the setting for the signing of the Prespa Agreement , intended to resolve the Macedonia naming dispute by renaming the Republic of Macedonia to North Macedonia . The agreement was signed on 17 June 2018 in a high-level ceremony at the Greek border village of Psarades on the lake, by the two foreign ministers Nikola Dimitrov (of

224-488: The Republic of Macedonia) and Nikos Kotzias (of Greece ) and in the presence of the respective prime ministers, Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras . After the ceremony, Tsipras and Zaev crossed over the border to North Macedonia's side of the lake for lunch at the village of Oteševo , in a highly symbolic move that marked the first time a Greek prime minister ever entered the Republic of Macedonia since it declared independence in 1991. Only 11 native fish species are known from

252-611: The Small Prespa Lake, on the Greek side of the border. The biggest island in the Great Prespa Lake, within North Macedonia, is called Golem Grad ("Large Town"), and Snake Island (Zmiski Ostrov). The other island Mal Grad ("Small Town", in Albania) is the site of a ruined 14th century monastery dedicated to St. Peter . Today, both islands are uninhabited. Because Great Prespa Lake sits in limestone country about 150m above Lake Ohrid , which lies only about 10 km (6 miles) to

280-517: The United States. Canada , as well, which has a maritime border with two other countries, has no international tripoints; however, it has five tripoints on land where the boundaries of provinces and territories meet, and one quadripoint where four provinces and territories meet . Japan has multiple prefectural tripoints; it also has prefectural quadripoints. In addition to the United States, Canada and Indonesia, Australia also has tripoints where

308-424: The boundaries of states meet. Border junctions (or "multiple points" or "multipoints" as they are also sometimes called) are most commonly threefold. There are also a number of quadripoints , and a handful of fivefold points, as well as unique examples of sixfold, sevenfold, and eightfold points (see quadripoint § Multipoints of greater numerical complexity ). The territorial claims of six countries converge at

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336-490: The convention by providing expert technical advice, helping implement field studies, and providing financial support. The IOPs also participate regularly as observers in all meetings of the conference of the parties and as full members of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel. The convention collaborates with a network of partners: This is the convention's governing body consisting of all governments that have ratified

364-542: The convention was signed in 1971. Every three years, representatives of the contracting parties meet as the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP), the policy-making organ of the convention which adopts decisions (site designations, resolutions and recommendations) to administer the work of the convention and improve the way in which the parties are able to implement its objectives. In 2022, COP14

392-694: The day-to-day coordination of the convention's activities. It is based at the headquarters of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Gland, Switzerland. The implementation of the Ramsar Convention is a continuing partnership between the Conference of Contracting Parties, the Standing Committee, and the Secretariat, with the advice of the subsidiary expert body, the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), and

420-402: The lake has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of ferruginous ducks , tufted ducks , Dalmatian pelicans and pygmy cormorants . The Albanian part of the lake is a separate but corresponding IBA for the same reason, as is the Greek southern section of the lake. Tripoint Usually, the more neighbours a country has,

448-475: The lake. Of these 9 of these are endemic : Alburnoides prespensis , Alburnus belvica , Barbus prespensis , Chondrostoma prespense , Cobitis meridionalis , Pelasgus prespensis , Rutilus prespensis , Salmo peristericus and Squalius prespensis ; the additional two are Anguilla anguilla (European eel) and Cyprinus carpio (European carp). The lake is also home to the freshwater sponge Spongilla prespensis North Macedonia's part of

476-635: The local population subsequently emigrated to escape endemic poverty and political strife. The region remained little developed until the 1970s, when it began to be promoted as a tourist destination. With an abundance of rare fauna and flora, the area was declared a Transnational Park in 2000. In 1999 the Society for the Protection of Prespa received the Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award for its conservation efforts regarding

504-533: The lost area either drying out or converted into swampland. The Great Prespa also saw its surface area decrease by seven percent and its volume reduced by half from 1984 to 2020. For many years, the Greek part of the Prespa Lakes region was an underpopulated, military sensitive area which required special permission for outsiders to visit. It saw fierce fighting during the Greek Civil War and much of

532-748: The more international tripoints that country has. China with 16 international tripoints and Russia with 11 to 14 lead the list of states by number of international tripoints. Other countries, like Brazil , India , and Algeria , have several international tripoints. Argentina has four international tripoints. South Africa , Pakistan and Nigeria have three international tripoints while Bangladesh and Mexico have only one. Within Europe, landlocked Austria has nine tripoints, among them two with Switzerland and Liechtenstein . Island countries , such as Japan and Australia , have no international tripoints (some, like Bahrain and Singapore , have tripoints in

560-616: The region is Resen in North Macedonia. In 2014, Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Biosphere Reserve between Albania and North Macedonia was added to UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The Great Prespa Lake ( Macedonian : Преспанско Езеро , Prespansko Ezero , Albanian : Liqeni i Prespës së Madhe , Greek : Μεγάλη Πρέσπα , Megáli Préspa ) has the total surface of 259 km (100.00 sq mi). The largest part of it, 176.3 km (68.07 sq mi) belongs to North Macedonia; 46.3 km (17.88 sq mi) to Albania; and 36.4 km (14.05 sq mi) to Greece. To

588-408: The south, the Little Prespa Lake (Greek: Μικρή Πρέσπα, Mikri Prespa ; Albanian: Prespa e Vogël ; Macedonian: Мало Преспанско Езеро) has the total surface area of 46.8 km (18.07 sq mi), most of it in Greece, with the westernmost tip (4.3 km (1.66 sq mi)) in Albania. The two lakes are separated by a 4-kilometre-long (2.5 mi) and 500-metre-wide (550 yd) isthmus on

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616-429: The support of the international organization partners (IOPs). Musonda Mumba is the seventh secretary general of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. 2 February is World Wetlands Day, marking the convention's adoption on 2 February 1971. Established to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet, WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997, and has grown since then. In 2015 World Wetlands Day

644-410: The treaty. This ultimate authority reviews progress under the convention, identifies new priorities, and sets work plans for members. The COP can also make amendments to the convention, create expert advisory bodies, review progress reports by member nations, and collaborate with other international organizations and agreements. The Standing Committee is the intersessional executive body which represents

672-628: The two relevant tripoints (the junction points of the China–Russia border , the Mongolia–Russia border , and the China–Mongolia border ) by the trilateral agreement signed in Ulaanbaatar on January 27, 1994. The agreement specified that a marker was to be erected at the eastern tripoint, called Tarvagan Dakh (Tarbagan Dakha), but that no marker would be erected at the western tripoint (which

700-599: The west, the only outlets for its waters are through underground channels in the karst and emerge from springs which feed streams running into Lake Ohrid. In the 1970s, the communist regime in Albania diverted the Devoll River feeding the Little Prespa to irrigate agricultural lands in the Korçë area, contributing to the depletion of the lake's surface area from 450 hectares to at least 20 hectares by 2024, with

728-747: Was celebrated in 59 countries. The convention was co-founded by Eskandar Firouz (former environment minister of Iran), Luc Hoffmann of Tour du Valat research station in the Camargue in France, and Geoffrey Matthews of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge in the late 1960s. The conference, which adopted the terms of the agreement, was held in the Iranian Caspian Sea resort of Ramsar on 2 February 1971. The convention turned 50 in 2021. Despite its quasi-universal application,

756-654: Was co-held in Wuhan, China, and Geneva, Switzerland. The list of wetlands of international importance included 2,331 Ramsar sites in May 2018 covering over 2.1 million square kilometres (810,000 sq mi). The countries with most sites are the United Kingdom with 175 and Mexico with 142. The country with the largest surface area of listed wetland is Bolivia, with around 148,000 square kilometres (57,000 sq mi). The Ramsar Sites Information Service (RSIS)

784-600: Was defined as the peak of the mountain Tavan-Bogdo-Ula (Kuitunshan, Tavan Bogd Uul). Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites ( wetlands ). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands . It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran , where

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