By Yemi Olakitan
World Wetlands Day was observed on February 2, 2023, with the slogan “Time for Wetland Restoration.”
The day was established to increase public awareness of the crucial role that wetlands play in supporting both human life and the environment. This year’s commemoration honours the 52nd anniversary of the day. On this day, we also remember the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, at Ramsar, Iran. It is especially distinctive as the first contemporary pact among nations with the explicit goal of protecting natural resources. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. The Ramsar Convention is still the only international agreement with the primary purpose of preserving and maintaining a particular environment, known as “Wetlands,” together with the plants and animals that depend on it, particularly waterfowl.
All freshwater and marine ecosystems, as well as coastal ecosystems, such as lakes, rivers, underground aquifers, swamps, marshes, wet grasslands, oases, estuaries, deltas, tidal flats, mangroves, and all artificial sites like fishponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and saltpans are considered to be wetlands. Wetlands also include freshwater and marine ecosystems. 40% of all plant and animal species live or reproduce in wetlands, despite the fact that they make up just about 6% of the planet’s land area.
Wetlands are vitally important ecosystems that support the sustainability of local communities’ livelihoods, the conservation of biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, a thriving fisheries industry, and regional, national, and global economies.
The Convention on Wetlands Secretary General, Dr. Musonda Mumba, has voiced her shock at the alarming rate of wetlands loss in light of this. In a statement released to commemorate the Day, she stated that “almost 90% of the world’s wetlands have been degraded or lost,” adding that “we are losing wetlands three times faster than forests.” In order to stop and reverse the rapid loss of wetlands, she continued, “there is a need to raise worldwide awareness about these important ecosystems.”
Time is of the importance, Dr. Mumba warned the international world, “with only seven years remaining till 2030 for us to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals.” Regarding the theme’s alignment with the goals of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, she commented that it presents a fantastic opportunity for everyone to reconsider and alter how we effect the environment as well as a chance to restore important ecosystems like wetlands.
“We’re mobilising an entire generation for wetland restoration by rallying all the important parties from the general public to key stakeholders,” Dr. Mumba stated.
One of the UN’s major projects, the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), was unveiled on June 5, 2021, World Environment Day. For the sake of both humans and nature, this campaign is a call to action for the preservation and restoration of ecosystems all around the world. It tries to stop ecological deterioration and restore them in order to accomplish universal goals. This is significant because only with robust ecosystems can human livelihoods be improved, climate change mitigated, and the extinction of wildlife stopped.
Ivonne Higuero, the CITES Secretary-General, said: “World Wetlands Day is a chance to stop and think about the value of these wonderful ecosystems, because they are home, shelter, and breeding grounds for species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and plants.”
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She stated that the loss of ecosystems, such as wetlands, is one of the most important threats for wildlife, and that overexploitation is not the main hazard to wildlife. “The earth has already experienced the loss or deterioration of about 90% of its wetlands – and that pace of loss is accelerating,” she says, expressing alarm.
To prevent the extinction of more than 38 000 species of animals and plants, CITES controls the international trade in such species.
The recent approval of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which contains goals for protecting and restoring wetlands, added relevance to this year’s World Wetlands Day observance, according to Wetlands International CEO Jane Madgwick.
She said that many people throughout the talks favoured a more straightforward definition of “land and sea” without mentioning wetlands in the Framework. To attain a just and secure planet, however, it took the tenacity of the alliance of NGOs, governments, politicians, and indigenous leaders for people to realise the importance of “putting wetlands back into excellent shape.”
According to Ms. Madgwick, “major transformations in governance, regulations, and investments are required” in order to meet the worldwide wetland restoration targets. The private sector needs to get heavily involved, and NGOs need to support and facilitate that. Since the year 2000, Wetlands International has led more than 30 large wetland restoration projects with numerous partners, encompassing 14 major wetland categories. The majority have been put into effect on a landscape scale with a long-term outlook, tying restoration with protective measures and allowing for more nature-friendly operations in agricultural settings.
Daryl Bosu, the deputy national director of A ROCHA Ghana, joined the appeal on countries to take advantage of the UN Decade of Restoration’s opportunity to stop the unacceptably rapid trend of ecosystem losses. “Ghana needs to urgently take steps to resuscitate our priceless wetlands like Sakumo and other wetlands that are under siege of invasion and conversion,” he said, leveraging the worldwide decade of restoration aim.
What’s going on in Ghana?
In Ghana, the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission is in charge of managing wetlands. At the Densu Delta Ramsar Site, the Division will celebrate World Wetlands Day with a media event in partnership with the Media Platform on Environment and Climate Change (MPEC).
Muni-Pomadze in the Central Region, Densu Delta, Sakumo, and Songor, all in the Greater Accra Region, and Keta in the Volta Region are the five coastal Ramsar Sites designated by the Division in partnership with academic and civil society partners. The only man-made location on land is the Owabi Wildlife Sanctuary in the Ashanti Region, which houses the Barekese Dam, which provides piped water to much of Kumasi Metropolis. The Coastal Wetlands Management Project, funded by the World Bank, was responsible for this in the middle of the 1990s.
Rapid slum expansion, illegal mining (galamsey), land and soil degradation, water pollution, and rapid conversion of wetlands for housing development are major concerns to the sound management of Ghana’s internationally significant wetlands.
