He World Wetlands Day 2024 It is celebrated once again today, February 2. A date of great importance when it comes to raising awareness in the world about how fundamental the restoration, protection and preservation of these ecosystemsfor the health of the global environment and the beings that inhabit it.
Why is World Wetlands Day 2024 celebrated on February 2?
He World Wetlands Day 2024 was established as a way to celebrate the signing of the Convention on Wetlands. This happened in the Iranian city of Ramsar, precisely on February 2, but in the year 1971.
It is the first, and to date the only, international treaty relating to the protection and importance of a specific type of natural environment. The RAMSAR Convention It is what serves as a framework to conserve wetlands and make coherent and rational use of their resources.
World Wetlands Day 2024: definition of a wetland
It is a transition space between land and water. constitutes a place where there is permanent or temporary presence of shallow water. This can be sweet or salty. And it is always accompanied by vegetation adapted to this type of soil or to regular immersion.
Some examples of wetlands are:
- gaps
- mangroves
- lagoons
- Coral reefs
- internal seas
- salt marshes
- ponds
- wet meadows
- lagos
- bays
- peat bogs
- ponds
- rainforests
- swamps
Wetlands cover only 2.6% of the planet, but they play a crucial hydrological role. However, since 1900, more than 64% of the world’s wetlands have dried up, degraded or destroyed, mostly due to anthropogenic causes.
In 2018, more than 2,200 wetlands of international importance were designated ‘Ramsar sites’. They cover about 2.1 million square kilometers, almost 4 times the surface of Spain. Doñana, Tablas de Daimiel, L’Albufera de Valencia or the Mar Menor, are some of the protected wetlands in our country.
World Wetlands Day 2024: What benefits do wetlands have?
Wetlands are very useful ecosystems. They are essential as habitat for certain species, many of them closely dependent on their existence, as is the case of migratory birds. Or those that are endemic to local wetlands.
His role in the fight against global warming It is of enormous importance, but it has many more functions. This is because, thanks to the characteristics of wetlands, they act as:
- Extremely efficient carbon sinks, to the point of retaining almost 30% of all terrestrial CO2, which is double the amount of all the forests on the planet.
- walls against the effects of climate change (coastal erosion, floods, droughts)
- water reservoirs and natural filters that improve water quality, facilitating its purification and eliminating impurities and contaminants
- important refuges for biodiversity
- source of resources for human beings (food, medicine, etc.)
World Wetlands Day 2024 theme: “Wetlands and human well-being”
It is extremely important to value the intrinsic and interdependent relationship between humans and wetlands. We need them to survive, since, if they disappeared, the global ecological balance would be broken. And they need our activities to respect them, for us to actively contribute to their recovery and to prevent them from deteriorating at all costs.
Wetlands present not one but a multitude of facets, each one more interesting than the other. In fact, these environments fulfill various functions that give them biological, hydrological, economic, heritage, educational, and sociological values. Unfortunately, the multifunctional role and interdependence of wetlands has often been observed and understood after their destruction.
Therefore, the World Wetlands Day 2024 Bet this doesn’t happen again. Based on the fact that information is key to being able to preserve and care for environments, this year’s theme aims to ensure that we do not wait until it is too late to assess how useful and necessary these incredible ecosystems are to us.