Tuesday 2 February was World Wetlands Day. It is celebrated each year to mark the date of signing the Convention on Wetlands in 1971 at Ramsar, Iran. This year’s theme, Caring for Wetlands – an answer to climate change, emphasises the important role wetlands play in providing ecosystem services.
Wetlands soak up greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. They also help regulate the water cycle, purifying our drinking water and forming a buffer against flooding. Wetlands also support a huge range of wildlife including swans, geese, ducks, flamingos, otters, beavers, water voles, dragonflies, frogs and rare plant life
Although they only cover about 6 per cent of the Earth’s surface, wetlands store around a third of global terrestrial carbon. Peatlands are the most efficient carbon stores of all terrestrial ecosystems, storing twice the volume of carbon compared to forest ecosystems.
Wetlands are particularly vulnerable to change and the Third Global Biodiversity Outlook Report, to be released by the CBD this May, will confirm that wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world.
The Ramsar Convention has listed nearly 2,000 wetlands of international importance. These include Lake Natron in Tanzania, which is home to half a million pairs of lesser flamingo, and Lake Naivasha in Kenya, renowned for its birds and wildlife.
In the UK, protected sites include Chesil Beach and the Fleet, Firth of Forth, Lee Valley, Isles of Scilly, Loch Lomond, Mersey Estuary, Morecombe Bay, North Norfolk coast, Wicken Fen, and the Severn Estuary as well as sites in the UK Overseas Territories.The Great Fen project is the largest wetland restoration project in lowland England.
Events and activities celebrating World Wetlands Day 2010 in the UK took place from the Norfolk Broads to the wetlands of Wales. The National Wetland Centre in Llanelli, Wales, is also hosting an exhibition throughout February called Climate change: what's occurring? designed by Science Shop Wales.
This year’s World Wetlands Day was celebrated internationally by the full recognition of Lake Chad as a Ramsar-listed protected wetland. The lake, which spans Chad, Nigeria, Niger and the Cameroon Republic, has been reduced in size by 90 per cent over the last 40 years due to irrigation demands and poor management.
Soil Association Organic Fortnight (3–17 September) is the UK’s biggest celebration of all things organic. Organic farming is a sustainable system of food production that works with nature, avoids the use of pesticides, and prohibits the use of synthetic fertilisers and genetically modified organisms.
It gives me great pleasure to start with a disclaimer. Most View articles are careful to note that they are the personal views of the writer – rather than a particular organisation. In my case, however, this is not one particular organisation, but amazingly, more than 40 organisations that have been involved with BioBlitzes this year.
And there it was. Boom. Back in London. Having cycled 3,000km, through eight different countries, to travel from the source to the mouth of the River Danube in just three weeks. That question was a sharp and sudden reminder that we were now back home, back on the bike, and back commuting to work. The adventure was over.
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