Why are wetlands threatened in Argentina?

Wetlands are among the more diverse and productive ecosystems that support humanity and nature. They provide basic goods and services around the world while fighting climate change. But according to the Ramsar Convention, since 1700 87% were lost wetlands around the world.

Today the World Wetlands Day in commemoration of the agreement signed 50 years ago in Ramsar, Iran and who Argentina joined 30 years ago. This agreement recognized for the first time these ecosystems as essential to life on the planet and seeks to generate a commitment from countries to protect and conserve them.

The swamps These are areas that remain in flood conditions or have soil saturated with water for considerable periods of time. Although this term encompasses a wide variety of ecosystems, all wetlands share one thing in common: the Water, which defines their physical, plant and animal characteristics and their relationships.

Wetlands can be fresh or saltwater, continental or coastal, natural or man-made:

Our water consumption has increased sixfold in 100 years and is increasing by 1% every year. But only 2.5% of the Earth’s water is fresh water, and what can be used is less than 1%. 0.3% is found in rivers and lakes. Storage of wet areas and they provide us with most of the fresh water, purifies water pollutants and purifies it naturally.

They are also the basis of food production all over the world and provide much of the fish we eat.

The 40% of the planet’s biodiversity lives and reproduces in humid areas. About 200 new species of fish are discovered each year in freshwater wetlands alone.

we they also protect against floods and storms. Each hectare of wetland absorbs more than 5 million liters of flood water. By absorbing rain and flood water, infiltration slows down and the amount of water flowing downstream decreases. Almost 75% of natural disasters are related to water.

Finally, are the largest reservoirs of natural carbon on earth for fight against climate change.

However, many are at risk of degradation suffer and disappear three times faster than forests.

Why is it necessary to protect and conserve these ecosystems in the midst of a pandemic? “Because the health of society is closely linked to the health of ecosystems. By getting close to wildlife, humans are exposed to a higher rate of disease transmission between animals and humans, giving rise to these pandemics and the spread of the virus, ”said Lic. Daniel Blanco, Executive Director from the Humedales / Wetlands International LAC Foundation.

In Argentina, wetlands cover an estimated area of ​​600,000 km2, the 21.5% of our territory. Among them stand out the peatlands of Tierra del Fuego and the mallines of Patagonia, the Esteros del Iberá, the high altitude lagoons and the salt marshes of the Puna and the Paraná delta. The city of Buenos Aires has the ecological reserve, Costanera Sur and its lagoons.

This year, from the Humedales Foundation, they focused their World Wetlands Day campaign on the Paraná-Paraguay System for the great drought that suffered this corridor of wetlands. This river system is one of the last examples in the world of large free-flowing rivers. It stretches 3400 km from the Pantanal, Brazil, to the Paraná Delta, Argentina.

During the past year, the Paraná River has undergone an extraordinary descent which has left the wetlands almost without water. In the face of drought, the cushion of plant debris that stores carbon in wetlands ignites easily. 328 thousand hectares destroyed by fires on the coast. It is observed that wetlands they are transformed into terrestrial environments for various uses such as agriculture, animal husbandry and urbanizations.

Argentina was a member of the Ramsar Convention and is committed to the conservation and wise use of wetlands in the framework of international cooperation with other countries. “From the Humedales Foundation, we work in the technical field with communities, civil society organizations, universities, public and private sectors to contribute to public and sector policies for the sustainable use of wetlands,” said Mr. Blanco.

“The Wetlands Act It tries to generate specific legislation but leads to differences with the productive sectors of wetlands. In December, an opinion was issued to the Natural Resources Commission and it is currently in the Chamber of Deputies with a turn to other committees. The process has stopped for the end of the year and the holidays ”, commented the executive director of the Fundación Humedales.

And he added: “There are two central points in the project to promote sustainable use of wetlands. One is the character of “minimum budgets“So that there is a commitment to its conservation in all provinces. On the other hand, it is important that the national inventory wetlands to find out where they are and what they look like, and after the Nation and the provinces incorporate them into the environmental planning of the territory to determine possible uses and work for their conservation. “

“In addition to a law, we need the society realize the need to change certain behaviors and realize the value of wetlands. Although the Wetlands Law has been a project we have been working on since 2012, in Congress and as part of experts, last year we found that the youth they started to mobilize to support the law and to defend the conservation of wetlands ”, declared the director of the Foundation.

For more information on:

Ramsar Convention 50 years / Wetlands Day https://www.worldwetlandsday.org/en/

The Power of Wetlands / Wetlands International https://www.powerofwetlands.org/en/

Lidya ha