World Wetlands Day (WWD)

World Wetlands Day (WWD)

By Dr Arvind Kumar

Second February each year is observed as World Wetlands Day (WWD). It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The WWD was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. Over the years, 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. Every year the Ramsar Convention selects a theme and raises awareness on specific types of wetlands or aspects of wetland management. For 2011 the theme selected is Wetlands and Forests which was chosen especially as 2011 is the UN International year of Forests. The slogan is simple but effective- Forests for water and wetlands-. This theme and slogan bring attention to the role that forests have in our lives.

Forested wetlands are biologically diverse areas which not only help freshwater management but also provide carbon storage- a very important property in a world threatened by rising Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and climate change. The main types of forested wetlands are forested peatlands, freshwater tree dominated wetlands and mangroves. However, mangrove forested wetland has been greatly abused with experts claiming that almost 20% of the world’s mangroves have disappeared between 1980 and 2005. Mangroves are typically converted to agricultural land, used for aquaculture or urban expansion.