Wetlands are the lifeblood of our planet and they are the only ecosystem that has an international treaty devoted to them, the Ramsar Convention was signed in 1971 in the city of Ramsar, Iran.
“the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development through-out the world”.
Wetlands are wherever land meets water, including the edge of a river or a lake, the seashore at low tide, flood plains and even the pond in your garden. The wetland ecosystem provides a home for many endangered species on our planet; it also protects us from droughts and flooding while purifying our water, but they are disappearing.
We are losing them 3 times faster than the forests, since the Ramsar Convention was signed we have lost 35% of them, as a result of this we have pushed species to extinction and allowed extreme weather events to become more common.
We can reverse this trend, because wetlands can exist anywhere, all we need to do is create, protect and restore, and you can even have them in your garden. If enough of us can act and bring life back we may just reverse the trend and there is no better time to start because February 2nd is World Wetlands Day.
