World Wetlands Day 2021
Today, 2nd February, is World Wetlands Day. This year’s theme is ‘Wetlands and Water’, highlighting their importance as a source of freshwater and encouraging people to restore them to stop them from disappearing.
“We are facing a growing freshwater crisis that threatens people and our planet. We use more freshwater than nature can replenish, and we are destroying the ecosystem that water and all life depend on most – Wetlands.”
Wetlands contribute to the quantity and quality of our freshwater and are essential for the health of people and our planet. The 2nd February also marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands which took place in 1971, at the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
What are wetlands?
Wetlands are areas of land that are naturally saturated or flooded with water, either seasonally or permanently. Inland wetlands include marshes, ponds, lakes, fens, rivers, floodplains, and swamps. There are also coastal wetlands, which include saltwater marshes, estuaries, mangroves, lagoons and even coral reefs. Human –made wetlands include fishponds, rice paddies, and saltpans.
Only 2.5% of water on Earth is fresh water – most of this is stored in glaciers, ice caps and underground aquifers:
- Less than 1% of freshwater is usable
- Rivers and lakes hold 0.3% of our planet’s surface water
Why wetlands are essential
Both fresh and saltwater wetlands sustain nature and humans, supporting our social and economic development through:
- Store and clean water – wetlands capture, hold and provide us with most of our fresh water, naturally filtering out pollutants, cleaning the water for us
- Provide a safe habitat for many wildlife species – 40% of the world’s species live and breed in wetlands. Annually, around 200 new fish species are discovered in freshwater wetlands
- Keep us safe – they provide protection from flooding as each acre of wetland absorbs up to 1.5 million gallons of floodwater. They also help regulate our climate – peatlands store twice as much carbon as forests whilst saltmashes, mangroves and seagrass beds also hold vast amounts of carbon
- Keep us fed – Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production section and inland fisheries provide millions of tonnes of fish a year. 12 million tonnes of fish in 2018 whilst rice paddies feed 3.5 billion people each year
- Underpin our global economy – wetlands are out most valuable ecosystem, providing services worth US $47 trillion a year globally whilst more than a billion people around the worked rely on wetlands for their income
Our freshwater consumption
Around the world we use 10 billion tons of water every day. 70% is used in agriculture and food cultivation, whilst 22% is used for industry and energy. Our water usage has increased six-fold in the last 100 years, with an annual increase of 1% each year. This is due to population growth, urbanisation and unsustainable consumption patterns which has put pressure on wetlands and their water. By 2050 our earth’s population is estimated to reach 10 billion people – 14% more water is therefore needed to produce 70% more food to feed everyone on earth.
Impact of losing our wetlands
Our increasing water consumption means there is less water for our nature and wildlife. The loss of wetlands, along with pollution, has intensified a water crisis, threatening all life.
- Since the 1700s, nearly 90% of the world’s wetlands have been lost, with those remaining now disappearing at a rate three times faster than our forests
- A quarter of all our wetland species, and 1 in 3 freshwater species, face extinction
- The impacts of climate change is reducing surface and groundwater in already dry regions, resulting in increased competition for limited water supplies
Solutions – water for everyone
- Start restoring our wetlands rather than destroying them
- Stop damming rivers and over extracting from rivers and aquifers
- Clean up freshwater sources and tackle pollution, poaching and overfishing
- Increase water efficiency and use water and our wetlands wisely
- Integrate water and wetlands into resource management and new development plans
Wetlands in Zambia
Our wetlands are home to huge range of biodiversity, including large concentrations of resident and migratory waterbirds, high densities of raptors along with rare Shoebill and endangered Wattled Crane. They are also an important habitat for a wide variety of mammals, including sitatunga and our endemic species of Kafue and Black Lechwe and the Bangweluu Tsessebe.
We have 8 designated wetlands of international importance within Zambia, making up approximately 14-19% of our total area. These were ratified in the Ramsar Convention, 50 years ago, in 1971: Kafue Flats Wetlands; Bangweulu Swamps; Barotse (Zambezi) Floodplains; Luangwa Floodplains; Busanga Swamps; Lukanga Swamps; Lake Mweru-wa-Ntipa and Lake Tanganyika.
We directly depend on these wetlands for our fisheries, agriculture and livestock, as well as for tourism, water transportation, energy and our cultural values and ceremonies. According to WWF, the Kafue Flats Wetlands alone provide us with approximately 50% of the nation’s hydroelectricity; 44% of Lusaka’s water supply to 3 million domestic and industrial users; nearly 90% of sugarcane for domestic and export markets; support an estimated 20% of the national cattle herds; produce maize for small-scale farmers; and, sustain one of Zambia’s most productive wild fisheries. So despite the Flats geographical remoteness, it plays a crucial role for a large percentage of our population who live in urban areas, including Lusaka.
Find out more
To find out more about the importance of Wetlands, what other countries are doing to protect them and how you can join in, then visit the World Wetlands Day website at www.worldwetlandsday.org