Wetlands and biodiversity
The world’s wetlands are home to some of the richest biodiversity on the planet. They host a spectacular array of wildlife ranging from kingfishers to caimans, herons to hippos, and an abundance of rare plant life.
As well as supporting an immense variety of wildlife, wetlands also have an economic value – not only to the 300-400 million people who live on the periphery of wetlands and depend on them, but also to communities living outside the wetland area. They are important sources for food, fresh water and building materials and also provide valuable services such as water purification and erosion control.
Threats
Half of the world's wetlands have been destroyed over the last 100 years. Major threats to wetlands include commercial development, agricultural drainage, extraction of minerals and peat, overfishing, tourism, siltation, pesticide discharges from intensive agriculture, toxic pollutants from industrial waste, and the construction of dams and dikes, often in an attempt at flood protection.
As a result, many freshwater species, too, are under threat. A WWF index that measures the health of freshwater ecosystems across the world shows a decline of 35% in species populations since 1970.
Solutions
WWF-UK currently supports important wetland conservation programmes including:
China
We have been working in the Yangtze river basin for many years to restore the flow of water between the river and many of the lakes in its central reaches. In doing so, we are showing that people and wildlife can benefit from improving water quality, increasing flood protection and restoring populations of birds and fish. Read more (link to Yangtze page).
Tanzania
The basin of Tanzania’s Great Ruaha River includes the Usangu wetland which contains over 400 bird species. WWF and our partners have worked in the region for many years to help restore water flows through the wetland.
Central & Eastern Europe
About 72% of the Lower Danube’s original floodplain has been disconnected from the river, putting globally important populations of bird and fish species at risk. WWF is facilitating the most ambitious wetland protection and restoration project in Europe, known as the Lower Danube Green Corridor, encompassing areas from the border of Serbia and Romania to the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.
The Ramsar Convention
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands and their resources. Ramsar member nations have designated an impressive 11% of the world's wetlands as Ramsar sites. This recognises the world's most important wetlands, and forms an effective tool to help countries advance towards their sustainable development goals, balance conservation needs, and address poverty alleviation. WWF is a partner organisation with Ramsar.