Commentary

Protect the Wetlands

By Prof. Edward Debrah Wiafe, Dean, School of Natural and Environmental Science, UESD.

February 2 every year is observed as World Wetlands Day. The day raises awareness about wetlands as critically important ecosystems that contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, and more.

The day also marks the anniversary of the Convention on Wetlands, which was adopted as an international treaty in 1971.

The theme for this year’s celebration was Wetlands Action for People and Nature.

This is a public campaign and an appeal to invest financial, human and capital to save the world’s wetlands from disappearing and to restore those that have been degraded.

Many people perceive that wetland are useless lands, disease-ridden places, and places of no ownership though.

But wetlands are ecosystems that provide values that no other ecosystem can.

Some of the values include natural water quality improvement, flood protection, shoreline erosion control, opportunities for recreation and aesthetic appreciation and natural products for human use at no cost.

They also provide a wealth of natural products, such as fish and shellfish, fruits, timber, rice, some wild medicines and more.

Many of the country’s fishing industries are dependent on wetlands’ habitats. For mammals such as sitatunga, manatees, hippopotamus as well as reptiles such as alligators and amphibians such as toads and frogs, wetlands are their haven.

Wetlands function as natural sponges that absorb and gradually release surface water runoffs, rain, snowmelt, groundwater, and flood waters. Trees, grasses, and other wetland vegetation also slow the speed of flood waters and distribute them more slowly over the floodplain.

This combined water storage and braking action lowers flood heights and reduces erosion. Yet, human activities have had devastating effects on our wetlands. This has happened through degradation and loss of changing water quality, direction, quantity, and flow rates.

Increasing pollutant inputs; and changing species composition as a result of disturbance and the introduction of alien species have been established. In Ghana, some commonly observed human activities that cause degradation of wetlands include Hydrologic Alterations and Pollutants deposition due to high inputs of pollution materials that exceed the capacity of wetlands.

In addition, diversion of flow to or from wetlands can result in pollutant runoff into wetlands.

Loss of wetland area means that we are likely to lose its related ecological services for human beings, economic benefits only for a special group of people who make profits from filling the wetland and putting up businesses or other land use forms

Profound changes would be caused by conversion of wetlands into other land use forms with damage from flooding or other indirect influences.

Wetland loss would result in the destruction of spawning and nursery ground for many marine species, while birds would lose their food and shelter with more disturbed habitats.

In addition, the buffer function for pollutant degradation, erosion, and land subsidence would be lowered, with increased risk from storm and flooding. Loss of wetlands imply the loss of biodiversity due to the damage of some critical ecosystem services, such as fishery, nursery habitats, and filtering and detoxification services.

These further contribute to the decline of water quality and increase of harmful algal blooms, oxygen depletion, and mortality of life under water.

This is why the theme for this year’s celebrations is urging public campaigns to save wetlands from degradation and disappearing. The theme is also an appeal to individuals, government, and non-governmental organizations to invest financial, human and capital to save the world’s wetlands from disappearing and to restore those that have been degraded.

Communities are encouraged to conserve and restore wetlands on their property and support local wetlands and watershed protection initiatives by donating materials, time, or money.

Citizens must work with their local assemblies and state agencies to develop laws that protect and restore wetlands.

As citizens we can avoid wetland alteration or degradation during project construction and maintain wetlands and adjacent buffer strips as open space as well as reducing the number of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides applied to gardens.

Protecting wetlands means protecting our safety and welfare. Let’s do it together.