From the Mountains to the Sea: Wetlands at Work for Us
By, Mahvash Roshani

2 February each year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Especially waterfowl Habitats. Ramsar is an Iranian city lying on the shores of the Caspian Sea, and it is here that the Wetlands Convention was adapted on 2nd February 1971. WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. Each year, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.

The theme for World Wetlands Day 2004 is "From the Mountains to the Sea: Wetlands at Work for Us".

The world Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002 promoted the media to highlight some alarming statistics – 1.1 billion people without access to safe freshwater, 1.7 billion living in water scarce areas, and 1.3 billion living in extreme poverty.

A major concern with the current attention given to freshwater issues is the lack of emphasis on the role of wetlands in providing solutions. Wetlands are a vital component of the freshwater cycle, capturing and holding rainfall and snowmelt, recharging aquifers, retaining sediment and purifying water.

Their conservation and sustainable use must be an integral part of any solution of the freshwater crisis. Wetlands are the provider of freshwater, both in quantity and quality, so maintaining healthy freshwater wetlands means securing water supply. And don’t let us forget about the many other resources and services provided by our freshwater wetlands that go well beyond freshwater supply, providing the basis for sustainable livelihoods in rural areas and thus a part of the solution to rural poverty.

Wetlands are both PROVIDERS and USERS of freshwater. As freshwater allocation becomes a challenging issue of national governments in their search for the elusive balance between agricultural, industrial and domestic demands for water, we must emphasize that wetlands NEED water if they are to maintain their structure and function. If they are to continue to deliver freshwater and contribute to sustainable lifestyles, they too need to be “allocated” water, and as a first priority.

Wetlands are a storehouse of cultural heritage which takes many forms, from human-made physical structures and artefacts, palaeontological records in sediments and peat, and traditional water and land-use management practices, to places of religious and mythological significance and the intangible ‘sense of place’ felt by many for these wild and often mysterious sites and their wildlife. Throughout its history, the work of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has emphasized the importance of people in conservation efforts: their livelihoods, their welfare, their traditions and beliefs, their leisure as well as their work – not only their economic and social well-being, but their "cultural heritage" as well. Increasingly, the Parties have observed that there is much common ground in the biodiversity and heritage management of wetlands.

Wetlands are transitional areas, sandwiched between permanently flooded deepwater environments and well-drained uplands. They often contain more plants and animals and produce more organic material than either the adjacent water or land areas. Aquatic habitats include permanently flooded parts of estuaries and near shore environments like sea grass beds, rivers, ponds, and lakes. Aquatic habitats are also critical to fish and wildlife as well as economically and recreationally valuable to humans.

There are more than 50 definitions of wetland in use throughout the world but he one which is used most widely on an international scale is provided by Ramsar Convention which defines wetlands as” Areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres (20 feet).

Wetlands are among the most productive habitats on earth providing shelter and nursery areas for commercially and recreationally important animals like fish and shellfish, as well as wintering grounds for migrating birds. Coastal marshes are particularly valuable for preventing loss of life and property by moderating extreme floods and buffering the land from storms; they also form natural reservoirs and help maintain desirable water quality.Aquatic habitats like these along the Gulf of Mexico are vital to seabirds, fish, and shellfish; economically the gulf alone contributes billions to the economy. Riverine deep water-like the Mississippi River and its many channels-is not only essential for navigation, industry, and recreation and therefore responsible for billions of dollars to the economy, but is also invaluable for natural resources. Songbirds and waterfowl use rivers as migratory guides, and rivers and lakes are both essential to countless species of fish, amphibians like frogs and salamanders, and reptiles like turtles, snakes, and alligators.

All wet lands are made of a mixture of soils, water, plants and animals. The biological interaction between these elements allows wetlands to perform certain functions and generate healthy wildlife, fisheries and forest resources. The combination of these functions and products together with the value placed upon biological diversity and the cultural values of certain wetlands make these ecosystems invaluable to people all over the world.

Wetlands provide a range of resources and services e.g. control floods and when water moves from a wetland down into an underground aquifer it is said to recharges ground water. Wetland vegetation can stabilise shorelines by reducing the energy of waves, currents or other erosive forces. Sediment is often a major water pollutant in many river systems. Many wetlands help reduce this by serving as pools where sediments can settle. Wetlands retain nutrients most importantly nitrogen and phosphorus, by accumulation in the sub-soil, or storage in the vegetation itself. A common role of wetlands during the growing season is to accumulate nutrients when the water flows slowly. These nutrients support, fish and shrimp as well as forests, wildlife and agricultural wetland products. Some wetlands contain potential energy for human consumption, normally in the form of planet matter and peat. When used sustainable this is an important component of an integrated management scheme for wetlands. However when its extraction is carried out on a large scale there is a real danger of it destroying the ecosystem. Many wetlands support spectacular concentrations of wildlife. Wetlands are also important as a genetic “reservoir” for certain species of plant. Rice, a common wetland plant, is the staple diet for over half of the world’s people. Wild rice in wetlands continues to be an important source of new genetic material used in developing disease resistance and other desirable traits.

Despite the importance of the range of resources and services which wetlands provide, we have tended to take these for granted. As a result the maintenance of natural wetlands have received low priority in most countries. But even as apathy and ignorance continues to permit conservation of wetlands, people are becoming increasingly aware of the loss of the services wetlands once provided free of charge.

But wetlands have come under natural and human threats (from subsiding or sinking land to draining or filling for new development) Restoring these wetlands and improving aquatic habitats have become imperative to maintaining an ecological balance through effective management practices.