IN FEBRUARY 2022, the world has just celebrated the first World Wetlands Day to spark vigilance about wetlands, following its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly on 30 August 2021.
The global celebration is part of the anniversary of the Convention on Wetlands, which was adopted as an international treaty in 1971.
Unknown to many, wetlands support vegetation in harmony with habitation of natural species necessary for life’s survival, which is a critical aspect in the whole cycle of the food chain.
About 70 percent of the endangered species depend on wetlands to survive like bugs, frogs and salamanders, fish, birds, snakes and turtles, and mammals like mice, Wetlands provide them with the space they need to live and get food.
However, the fast-growing population threatens biodiversity and livelihood, especially of local communities.
The surge in the population is directly proportional to the spiraling industrial and human-related activities resulting in pollution, contamination both in the soil and water brought about by coliform bacteria or toxic and non-toxic pollutants from industrial waste like the sugar central, factories, laboratories, hospitals.
Obviously, this has caused damage to the estuaries and wetlands, of course, including illegal fishing or overfishing of local communities in the coastal areas.
Experts opined wetlands are lost three times faster than forests, which calls for the world leaders to act as an urgent concern to reverse the rapid loss of wetlands and encourage actions to conserve and restore them.
Wetlands are critically important ecosystems that contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, and world economies.
In the case of Negros Occidental, it has at least 90,000 hectares of 109 kilometers of adjoining coastlines covering 52 coastal barangays within three cities and seven municipalities and these areas became the source of livelihood of the residents.
These wetlands are a haven for at least 73 species of water birds, angel wings shells, green mussels, crabs, shrimps, oysters, and mangroves.
These rich and bio-diverse coastal resources obviously had contributed to the economic spurt in the said coastal localities.
The province having showcased such bio-diverse potentials has placed the island as the Philippines’ 7th Ramsar site, which environment officials seen to tourism industry.
The citation emphasizes the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands primarily as habitat for wildlife and as source of livelihood for the people.
In the country, the six other Ramsar sites are in Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Cebu, Naujan Lake in Oriental Mindoro, Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Palawan’s Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, and Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area Sanctuary.
It can be understood that flooding of coastal lowlands from rising sea levels could create broad coastal marshes that are protected from wave action by barrier islands or reefs. Too, coastal wetlands form when rivers deposit sediment as they reach the ocean.
Plants, especially mangrove species, take root and hold the soil firm against the forces of tides and waves. It serves as buffer during monsoon, protect coasts from erosion as it stabilizes the shoreline, aside from serving as feeding and roosting for marine and coastal wildlife.
“Wetlands are critical to people and nature, given the intrinsic value of these ecosystems, and their benefits and services, including their environmental, climate, ecological, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic contributions to sustainable development and human well-being,” UN General Assembly 2021.
It emphasized the need for conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation and its contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world.
Taking into account, the UN General Assembly 2021 moreover, said that wetlands are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty eradication, food and nutrition, healthy living, gender equality, water quality and availability, energy supply, the reduction of natural disasters, innovation and the development of appropriate infrastructure, sustainable and resilient human settlements, the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, oceans, seas and marine resources, biodiversity and the sustainable use of ecosystems.
Let’s “get wet” to preserve our lands – our mountains, forests, mangroves, swamps, rivers, seas, and oceans for survival. Let us plant more trees and not babies, to balance our ecosystem and even address the ill-effects of climate crisis.