Like in the case of human bodies where 60% is water, our planet’s surface is alike with 71% water serving the rest of biodiversity living on it, us included.
On 2 February 2022, International Wetlands Day, ETC-UMA wants to share with you our contribution to make wetlands better understood. We keep working on reconnecting (to) wetlands and helping set up a Mediterranean ecosystem where they are valued and supported. Stay tuned to our next report, co-funded by the Interreg Mediterranean programme, highlighting the mapping and ecosystem assessment developed at regional scale to be published in the coming weeks. Here is a taste of what you will learn about:
- According to the available data, the wetland ecosystem spatial extent in the Mediterranean territory reaches almost 160,000 km2;
- The assessment shows that almost half of the freshwater endemic species (777 out of the 1572 freshwater endemic species to the region used in this study) are threatened with extinction.
Furthermore, we have developed the following targeted material to a range of stakeholders to raise awareness of the important of conserving and protecting wetland ecosystems:
- For scientists and policy makers: see in the chapter on Wetlands an analysis of the pressures and condition of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems using a single, comparable methodology based on European data on trends in the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services: An EU ecosystem assessment:
- For those interested to know how wetlands contribute to tackle climate change: ETC/ULS Report 10/2021 Carbon pools and sequestration potential of wetlands in the European Union
- For learning more about what EU funded wetland projects and policies: Re-live the EU Green Week Webinar on healthy wetlands as our best natural answer to the biodiversity, water and climate crises – video session links included!
- For all: Watch the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection video to see what they offer and what you can do to save them.
More about ETC-UMA and its work on wetlands: https://www.etc.uma.es/wetlands/
