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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 76(7)

Ramsar on repeat: quantifying US policy action by political party

James C. Whitacre https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9455-7667 A *
+ Author Affiliations
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A University of Massachusetts Boston, Global Governance and Human Security Program, Boston, MA, USA.

* Correspondence to: James.Whitacre001@umb.edu

Handling Editor: Siobhan Fennessy

Marine and Freshwater Research 76, MF24287 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF24287
Submitted: 25 December 2024  Accepted: 5 April 2025  Published: 1 May 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Globally, 177 nations are party to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. This environmental treaty is unique as the only multilateral environmental agreement to actively conserve sites on the ground. The Ramsar Convention facilitates global scientific cooperation, among the largest and smallest nations, including Russia, Canada, and China, and Monaco and the Marshall Islands. This article presents a new global dataset to understand whether domestic political parties in the USA affect the US implementation of the Ramsar Convention. In total, this analysis stretches from 2005 to 2020, and uses the environmental conventions index (ECI). The ECI is the first cross-comparable and empirical dataset on the implementation of the Ramsar Convention and can jumpstart additional research. The implementation evidence suggests that the translation of Ramsar Convention policy into action in the USA remains consistent across political party. The highest environmental implementation scores occurred under a US Republican administration. This finding is surprising because Pew surveys have shown that Republicans care less about climate change than do Democrats. This perspective aims to generate re-thinking of US politics at the start of an incoming Republican administration. With bipartisan support, the Ramsar Convention could revive US environmental leadership.

Keywords: climate change, comparative politics, implementation, MEA, multilateral environmental agreement, National Reports, political party, Ramsar Convention, wetland policy, wetlands.

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