The Biodiversity Foundation participates in the celebration of World Wetlands Day by collaborating with different initiatives that aim to conserve and improve these wetlands. The theme of World Wetlands Day 2013 is “Wetlands and Water Management”, whose main objective is to raise people’s awareness of the interdependence of water and wetlands.

These aquatic ecosystems are home to an enormous, varied and unique natural and cultural heritage. Cradles of biodiversity and sources of water and primary productivity necessary for the survival of countless plant and animal species, withstand multiple threats and aggressions, being one of the most threatened ecosystems in the European Union.

Tomorrow, the international community celebrates the 42nd anniversary of the signing, on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar, of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, which entered into force in 1975. It is, without a doubt, the most important international treaty on wetland conservation, ratified by more than 164 countries, and which protects nearly 2,065 wetlands around the planet (73 in Spain).

On the other hand, the Association for the Ecological Defense of Galicia (ADEGA) coordinates a meeting in Pontevedra, framed in the project “Charcas con vida”, in which the importance of these spaces for the conservation of biodiversity will be discussed, and this initiative will be presented that aims to carry out a participatory inventory of ponds, combining environmental education, volunteering and land stewardship.

The Biodiversity Foundation also collaborates in other projects for the restoration and creation of these aquatic ecosystems in Murcia and the Valencian Community with the Southeast Naturalist Association (ANSE); and in Aragon with a project in the Monegros region.

For the conservation and improvement of wetlands, the involvement and coordination of the administrations, the local population and surrounding landowners is important to obtain technical criteria for the sustainable management of these spaces. In this line, the project “Stewardship in Steppe Wetlands” is being developed, promoted by the Global Nature Foundation, which has the support of the Biodiversity Foundation, and whose scope of action is Palencia, Toledo and Cáceres. Also the actions of the “Amphibia” project, developed by the Columbares Association in Murcia, Albacete, Almeria and Granada, and whose objective is to collaborate with owners or managers of bodies of water so that they adopt good environmental practices that allow their use as a breeding area by amphibians, without risks to their survival. Raising awareness and involving the local population through environmental education and volunteering actions is also essential for the conservation of these spaces and their biodiversity. Thus, WWF Spain with the project “Actions for awareness and conservation of amphibians in Spain” seeks to improve amphibian populations at the national level, and raise awareness globally in Spanish society about the importance of conserving this endangered faunal group.