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Wetlands Day 2024
BACKGROUND x THEME x INFOGRAPHICS
02 February each year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. World Wetlands Day was celebrated for the first time in 1997. By 2012, about 115 000 wetlands, covering over four million ha and comprising close to 4% of the country's surface area, had been mapped in South Africa. The department (DFFE) is responsible for the South African Wetlands Conservation Programme, which ensures that South Africa's obligations in terms of the Ramsar Convention are met.
2024 Theme — Wetlands and Human Wellbeing
Spotlights how all aspects of human wellbeing are tied to the health of the world’s wetlands —
physical, mental, and environmental. Elucidates how interconnected wetlands and human life have been throughout history — with people drawing sustenance, inspiration and resilience from these productive ecosystems. Underscores the critical need for human stewardship of the world’s wetlands.
The benefits that wetlands provide help sustain
life and are central to human wellbeing.
Wetlands and Water
We use more water than nature can replenish. Less than 1% of freshwater is usable. Our water use increased sixfold in 100 years and rises 1% annually. Almost all global freshwater sources are compromised: 82% of the world’s population is exposed to high levels of pollution
in their water supply.
Wetlands and Food
Unsustainable agricultural practices are damaging and destroying wetlands. More than half of Wetlands of International Importance are damaged by agriculture. Agriculture accounts for 70% of water withdrawals from the Earth’s wetlands. Aquaculture is growing faster than any other food production sector.
Wetlands and Livelihood
Wetlands provide more than 1 billion livelihoods across the world – delivering food, water supplies, transport and leisure. More than 660 million people depend on fishing and aquaculture for a living. Almost 1 billion households in Asia, Africa and the Americas rely on rice growing and processing for their main livelihoods.
Wetlands and Climate
Wetlands capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store more carbon than any other ecosystem on Earth. Peatlands store about 30% of land-based carbon — twice the amount of all the world’s forests. Coastal blue carbon ecosystems (mangroves, seagrass beds, salt marshes) capture…
Wetlands and Culture
The wetland landscape reflects the close relationship between humans and wetlands over millennia. Down the ages, water has been venerated as the sustainer of life and plays an important role in the world’s major faiths. Wetlands have inspired humankind’s creative and spiritual minds from the earliest times...
Wetlands and Biodiversity
Wetland biodiversity is critical to sustainable human development. About 40% of the world’s plant and animal species depend on wetlands. Wetland biodiversity supplies food, clean water and jobs, protects against storms and floods, and mitigates the impacts of climate change. Climate change and biodiversity loss are linked.