World Wetlands Day 2022: Wetlands are marshes, flooded areas and marshes that support a wide variety of life forms. Both natural and artificial wetlands help to maintain and enhance biodiversity and ecological health. World Wetlands Day has been observed on 2 February every year since 1997. The annual event aims to raise awareness about the importance of wetlands, which, apart from contributing to biodiversity, also help in mitigating climate impacts and the availability of freshwater.
World Wetlands Day: History
World Wetlands Day was adopted on 2 February 1971 as an international treaty called the Convention on Wetlands in Ramsar, Iran. This year, the date of February 2 was given official recognition by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as it adopted resolution 75/317 on August 30 last year as World Wetlands Day.
Public awareness activities and programs regarding wetland conservation started in 1997. The Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands shared outreach materials such as factsheets, various documents, posters and logos to educate the public about the reasons why it is necessary to protect wetlands.
To educate young people about wetland conservation, a month-long youth photo contest has been organized every year since 2015, starting on 2 February. This contest is limited to people between the ages of 15 and 24. Participants are required to take a picture of one. wetland and upload it to the World Wetlands Day website between February and March. The winner gets to visit the wetland of their choice.
World Wetlands Day: Significance
Wetlands are extremely important and sensitive ecosystems that are biodiversity hotspots and help a wide variety of plant and animal life thrive in their ecosystem. The destruction of wetlands by creating landfills or real estate projects on them destroys the ecologically sensitive work they perform. As a result World Wetlands Day becomes an extremely important event that reminds people why we need to save our wetlands.
World Wetlands Day 2022: Theme
The theme of celebration of this year’s World Wetlands Day is Wetlands Action for People and Nature. It is an appeal to all sections of the society to save the wetlands from extinction and restore the degraded lands. The campaign highlights the need for investment of capital, political and civic support to protect wetlands.
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