The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment (MAPAMA) joins today the celebration of World Wetlands Day, which takes place this year under the slogan “Wetlands for disaster risk reduction”, with the aim of helping to raise awareness and promote the sustainable use of our wetlands.
To this end, a poster has been installed on the façade of the building and posters have been distributed based on the basic design proposed by the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention for this occasion, in addition to hosting activities in National Parks and within the scope of some of the Ministry’s Hydrographic Confederations.
World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on 2 February to raise awareness around the world about the value of wetlands. Wetlands are a very heterogeneous and unique set of ecosystems straddling land and water, areas with saturated soils or areas that are briefly flooded seasonally, intermittently or permanently, and that are distributed throughout the world and in any type of biome.
Wetlands are, for example, lagoons, deltas, lagoons, floodplains, mangroves, peat bogs, wet meadows, located in tropical zones, in temperate latitudes, in circumpolar areas, in continental or coastal areas. Their hydrological particularities (they are ultimately dependent on water) make wetlands among the most complex, productive and dynamic, although also the most fragile, ecosystems on the planet. They are also some of the most productive and biodiversity-rich ecosystems on Earth, being home to numerous threatened species.
SPAIN, THIRD COUNTRY WITH THE MOST WETLANDS ON THE RAMSAR LIST
Today also marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands in the Iranian city of Ramsar, in 1971.
Spain stands out for the great variety of types of wetlands present in our territory, many of them of International Importance included in the Ramsar Convention. Thus, at the moment there are 74 Spanish wetlands included in the Ramsar List, which positions us as the third country in the world by number of wetlands included in this List, only behind the United Kingdom and Mexico.
World Wetlands Day was first celebrated in 1997. Each year, a theme is selected to help focus attention on one of the essential values and functions of wetlands.
The theme chosen for World Wetlands Day 2017, “Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction”, has been selected to highlight the role of wetlands in reducing the impact of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and cyclones.
The frequency of natural disasters in the world has more than doubled in just 35 years, an increase that is mainly due to extreme weather events (the frequency of disasters of geological origin remains stable). According to UN-Water, 90% of natural hazards are water-related. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that there will be even more extreme events in the future as a result of climate change.
WETLANDS FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
When an extreme weather event occurs, healthy wetlands work by absorbing some of its impact, reducing damage. They act like natural sponges, absorbing and storing excess rainfall and thus reducing flooding. During the dry season, they release stored water, delaying the onset of droughts and reducing water scarcity.
This has been verified in our own country during the episodes of torrential rainfall in December 2016 and January 2017 that occurred in the eastern area, where La Albufera de Valencia has absorbed and stored excess water, avoiding much greater damage in the entire surrounding area. In the case of coasts, wetlands also act as physical barriers of protection.
Maintaining healthy wetlands and restoring degraded wetlands is the best measure of protection against extreme weather events. Well-managed wetlands ensure the resilience of the environment and the communities that inhabit it, as well as their ability to recover from disasters.
CITATIONS IN LAS TABLAS AND IN THE BASINS OF THE GUADIANA AND JÚCAR
MAPAMA, in addition to installing a poster on the façade of the Secretary of State for the Environment and distributing posters edited from the basic design proposed by the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention for this occasion, hosts other activities by some of its autonomous bodies.
Thus, the Las Tablas de Daimiel National Park will today award diplomas to the best photographers who have portrayed this natural space within the framework of the photography contest that has been held on the occasion of the Centenary of the first National Parks Law.
Afterwards, a tour of the itinerary of Pan Island, within the National Park, takes place to see the entry of cranes and cormorants to this area of maximum environmental protection located in the province of Ciudad Real.
Meanwhile, the Guadiana Hydrographic Confederation is holding a conference today in the Alqueva reservoir, the largest artificial lake in Europe and which constitutes a large wetland that combines tourist use and natural preservation.
During the day, different activities and games will be carried out with 60 primary school children in order to raise awareness about the value of wetlands and the care of spaces for public use, dealing with topics such as ornithology, invasive exotic species or the promotion of good practices in natural spaces.
The Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, for its part, joins the celebration of World Wetlands Day with an open day, on Sunday, in the Tancat de la Pipa, a wetland located within the Natural Park of La Albufera (Valencia) and which has been restored by the Basin Organization.
The day, which will include boat rides and a guided tour to learn about the importance of wetlands through games, has the collaboration of the NGOs SEO/Birdlife and Acción Ecologista Agró. The activity will start at 9.30 a.m. and registration is open (visitas@tancatdelapipa.net).
