Since its inception, the Ramsar Convention has recognized “the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands as regulators of water regimes” (preamble to Convention text), but it has only been since the mid-1990s that Contracting Parties have begun to pay greater attention to the importance of the interrelationships between water and wetlands, starting with COP6 Resolution VI.23 on “Ramsar and Water” (1996). Since then, the Convention has adopted an increasing suite of technical and policy guidance, prepared by its Scientific and Technical Review Panel, to assist Contracting Parties in tackling the increasingly urgent issue of sustainable water resource management, taking account of the critical role that wetlands play in maintaining the global hydrological (water) cycle.