February 2 is World Wetlands Day. Globally, the day is celebrated each year to raise awareness about the state of wetlands throughout the world. The theme of this year’s commemoration is “wetlands action for people and nature.” From mangroves to marshes, wetlands are essential for the well-being of people and our planet in numerous ways.
Wetlands are critical to human and environmental health as they provide essential habitats for wildlife and capture carbon and then store and filter water.
Wetlands play important roles in storing clean water for our use, providing a home for nature, keeping us safe from floods and storms, etc. Therefore, we should do our part to conserve and protect our wetlands.
This underscores the significance of our concerted actions in conserving our natural resources, of which wetlands are a part. It's an appeal to invest financial, human, and political capital to save the world’s wetlands from disappearing and to restore the ones we have damaged already.
World Wetlands Day marks the date of the 1971 adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. 2022 is the first year that WWD will be observed as a United Nations International Day.
Did you know?
The world has lost close to 85% of its wetlands since the 1700s, and they are disappearing three times faster than forests at the current rate. Wetlands are life providers, they provide food for 3.5 billion people, provide close to a billion livelihoods, are the most efficient land-based carbon stores, and host 40% of the global species.
In Bangladesh, almost 50% of our total land area is somehow enclosed within wetlands. Wetlands are an integral part of the environment, bio-diversity, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, and such.
The size of the wetlands in Bangladesh is decreasing every day. Illegal occupancy, unplanned industrialization, urbanization, and pollution have drastically reduced most of our country’s wetlands.
According to a survey by the Institute of Water Modelling, more than 10,000 hectares of wetlands, canals, and lowlands in Dhaka have been lost since 1985. If this trend of reservoir-filling continues, it is feared that the amount of water and land in Dhaka will fall below 10% of the total area by 2031.
It has been disclosed that the size of wetlands in Dhaka and its contiguous areas was 2,952 hectares and the land area was 13,528 hectares in 1978. At the same time, canals and rivers encompassed 2,900 hectares. Dhaka City’s rainwater falls into the rivers through these canals. By 2014, wetlands in and around Dhaka city decreased by 1,935 hectares, lowlands by 8,198 hectares, and rivers and canals by 1,002 hectares. In other words, water resources have decreased 34.45% in 35 years. Within this period, the land area has decreased by 54.18% and rivers and canals by 65.45%.
There are numerous laws in place such as the Bangladesh Water Act (2013); Environmental Protection Act (2010); Reservoir Conservation, Restoration, and Fill Control Act (2003); the Natural Reservoir Conservation Act (2000); and the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) to protect our natural reservoirs. However, none of these laws are being enacted in any productive manner.
What can we do?
It’s our prime responsibility to care for our wetlands, and even minor adjustments can have a big impact. Here are some things we should start doing now if we want to conserve our wetlands:
Restore wetlands and control water pollution
- Avoid damming on rivers or over-extraction from aquifers
- Use our wetlands wisely
- Don’t waste food
- Establish coordination between relevant authorities
- Increase investment in the wetlands as nature-based solutions
- Renovate, preserve, and support the sensible use of wetlands
- Use perishable products to scrub your house
- Use organic products
- Formulate plans and implement reservoir protection laws
Asaduzzaman Rassel is a communication specialist at an international NGO.
