Wednesday, 1 February 2023
World Wetlands Day commemorates the signing of the Ramsar Convention — the world’s first international conservation treaty to save wetlands across the globe.
Here at BirdLife Australia, we think World Wetlands Day is a great time to stop and reflect on how our wetlands are faring in the face of a multitude of pressures.
There are many different types of wetlands — they include rivers and swamps and lakes, of course, but also estuaries, tidal mudflats and deltas, wet grasslands, mangrove forests and even underground aquifers, rice crops, sewage ponds and farm dams — so it follows that the wildlife that relies on them — including waterbirds and shorebirds — is also diverse. However, so too is the range of issues that affect them, and BirdLife Australia is working hard to ensure that Australia’s wetland birds and their habitats are safeguarded into the future.
Far from merely being places where mosquitoes breed, crocodiles lurk in the shallows or snakes hide among the reeds, wetlands are a treasure-house of marvellous wildlife. Where else can you see a thousand waders, newly arrived from the other side of the world? Or an egret posing elegantly, or a duet of Pink-eared Ducks spinning around and around together to create a mini whirlpool?
Despite their importance, wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate and three times more quickly than forests. In the past 50 years alone, we’ve lost around 35 per cent of the world’s wetlands — making them the most threatened type of ecosystem on the planet.
Globally, wetlands are being cleared and their water diverted and drained for agriculture or to make way for development. They’re also threatened by the growing effects of climate change, like increasing droughts and fires, as well as growing pressures from overgrazing and invasive species.
This year’s World Wetlands Day theme is “It’s time for wetland restoration” – because there’s never been a more important time to protect and restore wetlands.
This World Wetlands Day, join us in calling on governments to step up their protection of Lake Eyre Basin and its thousands of hectares of wetlands – and the birds that rely on it. Sign the petition today.
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