The Convention on Wetlands, known as the Ramsar Convention, was signed in 1971 in which country?

The correct answer is A, Iran. The convention takes its name from Ramsar, a town on the Caspian coast of Iran, where it was signed on 2 February 1971; it came into force in 1975 and is the oldest of the modern global environmental treaties. Option B is wrong because Iraq, though a neighbour of Iran, has no connection with the signing. Option C is wrong for a reason worth noting: Switzerland hosts the secretariat of the convention at Gland, so it is the administrative home of the treaty, but not the place of signature, and this is exactly the confusion the option is placed to create. Option D is wrong because Kenya is the seat of the United Nations Environment Programme at Nairobi, another agency easily mixed up with wetland administration. Remember the pair: signed at Ramsar in Iran, administered from Gland in Switzerland.