Wetlands: areas to be preserved

Wetlands, which cover extremely diverse landscapes and landforms with varying degrees of water, are not considered a priori among the most hospitable. And additionally, planning policies, both in France and abroad, have often focused on draining them, either to make them suitable for construction or simply for sanitation purposes.

For some time, scientific research has been shedding new light on these areas: besides being major biodiversity reservoirs, wetlands, which only cover 3% of the world’s surface, capture one-third of carbon trapped in the soil. Therefore, they play a valuable role in climate change while at the same time being directly threatened by it. Their study is crucial, particularly as they are impacted by other human activities, most notably pollution. And in countries where desertification is increasing, especially south of the Sahara, wetlands are at the centre of major reforestation projects which aim to ensure access to vital resources for the greatest number of people.

Wetlands are genuine areas to be preserved on every continent, and this year’s World Wetlands Day is fittingly dedicated to this fight. You can find out more about this through a selection of material covering these major issues.