Q.Why are wetlands, as a category of ecosystem, given special international protection under the Ramsar Convention?

Step 1. Wetlands are among the most ecologically productive ecosystems on Earth, providing critical habitat for an enormous range of species, particularly migratory waterbirds that depend on specific wetland stopover and wintering sites along their migration routes. Step 2. They also deliver major broadly utilitarian ecosystem services -- flood regulation, groundwater recharge, and natural water purification -- of direct practical value to surrounding human populations. Step 3. At the same time, wetlands are among the most threatened kinds of ecosystem worldwide, frequently drained or converted for agriculture and development, which is why an international treaty specifically for their protection, the Ramsar Convention, was considered necessary rather than relying on purely domestic protection alone. …

• Naming only habitat value or only ecosystem-service value, without combining both reasons.
• Omitting why wetlands specifically (rather than ecosystems in general) needed a dedicated …