The first-ever wetland convention took place in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar. Nepal ratified the Ramsar Convention in 1987.
The Ramsar Convention recognises 42 wetland types divided into marine, coastal, inland and human-made. Nepal has inland and riverine types of wetland, in the form of lakes, including ox-bow lakes, ponds, reservoirs, river floodplains, marshes and rice paddies.