February 2 is World Wetlands Day, a date to reflect on the importance of conserving this ecosystem for its high natural value and its richness in biodiversity.

February 2 is World Wetlands Day, a date to reflect on the importance of conserving these ecosystems that contain a high natural value and a great wealth of biodiversity.

The Biodiversity Foundation supports the development of various projects related to wetlands, for their protection and restoration, such as revegetation, the improvement of their connectivity and the promotion of stewardship initiatives, among others. It also collaborates in the research and development of specific studies, which help to better understand these valuable spaces and the environmental services they provide, for example, as carbon sinks.

Within the framework of the 2013 call for grants from the Biodiversity Foundation to carry out activities in the field of terrestrial biodiversity, marine and coastal biodiversity, climate change and environmental quality, there are two projects working in this line of conservation and restoration of wetlands.

“Naturalized riverbanks and wetlands: Improving connectivity in disturbed natural spaces as nurseries of biodiversity”, is an initiative of the Tormes-EB Foundation. The project seeks to improve and maintain the forest connectivity of riparian sections of great ecological potential and the intervention in gravel pits with a vocation for naturalized wetlands. The aim is to turn these scenarios into “biodiversity nurseries” and for them all the project’s actions will be supported by a strong campaign of specialised volunteering and social communication.

On the other hand, the University of Valencia is developing the project “Evaluation of the potential of the main types of Spanish wetlands in the fight against climate change”. An initiative that seeks to evaluate the contribution of the most extensive types of Spanish wetlands (coastal wetlands and inland saline) as carbon sinks, and thus provide a scientific basis for their role in climate change mitigation, revealing what are the key factors that determine the sequestration/sink balance and identifying the best management practices to improve this eco-service.