🌿 World Wetlands Day
For a long time in our worldview, wetlands were considered more as adversaries of humans rather than as our allies. Only ecologists or botanists within their specialized community recognized the true value of wetland ecosystems but struggled to convincingly communicate it to the broader world. In our era, as wetlands have swiftly vanished from our landscapes, we have started to comprehend the full spectrum of their ecosystem services and their relevance to human well-being.
💧 "Nature's Kidneys," that purify water by removing excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus, along with various pollutants, providing us with clean water, and aiding rivers to flow freely and at full capacity;
💧 "A Natural Sponge," accumulating an immense volume of water and watering the soil during droughts;
💧 "Biodiversity Hotspots," serving as habitats for a vast array of organisms, many of which are specifically adapted to aquatic and marshy environments;
💧 "Carbon Sinks," absorbing carbon dioxide from the air and storing it in their soil horizons;
💧 "Nurseries of the Sea," offering crucial breeding and feeding grounds for many marine species (coastal wetlands);
💧 "Flood Control Systems," absorbing and decelerating floodwaters, helping shield communities from the destructive impacts of flooding.
These are merely a selection of the well-known epithets we have assigned to wetlands based on their role in the natural world and human society.
Wetlands offer ecosystem services valued at more than US$47 trillion annually. Therefore, planning agricultural, energy, infrastructural, and construction investments that take into account the preservation and restoration of wetlands is economically more advantageous than their destruction for economic development. For example, New York City invested 1.5 billion dollars to acquire 80,000 acres of watershed to safeguard its drinking water quality, a sum significantly lower than the cost of constructing and maintaining a filtration plant.
Preserving, restoring, and designing wetland ecosystems should be a focal point in planning a green infrastructure for a climate-resilient city. Coupled with urban forests, wetlands emerge as a potent tool for climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as biodiversity restoration in cities, ensuring human safety and well-being.
Happy World Wetlands Day!