What are wetlands and why are they so important? 1) Wetlands are the necessary link between land and water. 2) The term wetland can mean a bog, swamp, or marsh. 3) Wetlands are the main habitat for migratory waterfowl. 4) A wetland is land that is covered with water or land that has water near the surface long enough to keep the soil very waterlogged so it can grow and support aquatic type plants. Wetlands are typically viewed negatively as places of foul odor, bugs, and disease. This negative and ignorant viewpoint has caused the senseless draining of thousands of wetlands. It is causing many plants and animals to be without a home. More than half of America’s original wetlands have been destroyed. Why? For housing, farm lands, industrial building, or used to dispose of household waste. The total acreage of wetlands was estimated at 127,000,000; by 1950 45,000,000 had been drained. There are many reasons for wetlands being drained. As cities grow large many wetlands’ water is diverged to meet the growing need. Some have been drained to rid the area of mosquitoes. Many trees and shrubs in mangrove swamps have been cut down and whole ecosystems changed for aquaculture. Not only has this affected plant and animal life but human as well. People who lived in the area of a wetland had to move because they no longer had a food source. Because of the draining of wetlands flocks of migrating birds must fly further to find other wetlands. “In some areas, weather even changed. As the wetlands were converted for all the various reasons, natural wetland ecosystems [have] drastically changed or disappeared entirely.” We share the goal of Wetlands International: “To sustain and restore wetlands, their resources and biodiversity for future generations through research, information exchange and conservation activities, worldwide.” Wetlands have many important values. Wetlands prevent soil erosion. Plants in wetlands can clear water of many pollutants (including dirt and nitrogen). These and other pollutants would enter ground water, lakes, and rivers without wetlands. Some small towns actually even use wetlands instead of water purification plants. They also prevent severe floods which are caused by severe rains because they are depressed lands that store water. They have been called the “kidneys of the environment.” We are all affected by wetlands. People need to realize the importance of wetlands and appreciate the ways they add to our world. 60 % OF THE WORLD’S RIVERS HAVE BEEN DAMMED This massive re-plumbing of the world’s rivers is a major reason for the rapid loss of freshwater species. Around a third of freshwater fish species known to have existed are now classified extinct, endangered or vulnerable. A significant but unknown share of shellfish, amphibians, plants and birds that depend on freshwater habitats are also extinct or at risk. But aren’t dams, like dentists’ drills and taxes, just a necessary evil that we must grudgingly accept for our greater good? Don’t we need to store water to keep ourselves and our crops alive through dry seasons and dry years? Don’t we need to block floods? Don’t we need hydroelectricity? We do need to store water. In large parts of the world rain falls only during one or two wet seasons, and within those seasons almost all rain might fall in just one or two storms. And global warming is making rainfall even less dependable. But the best form of water storage is in the ground, not in huge surface reservoirs created by damming rivers. Storage in the form of groundwater does not flood homes or habitats, and does not evaporate as does water in reservoirs. Groundwater is the primary source of drinking water for roughly a third of the world’s people and the great majority of rural dwellers. Land irrigated with groundwater tends to be far more productive than that watered from huge dam-and-canal irrigation projects because a farmer can control when they use water from their own well whereas, with big dam irrigation schemes, the quantity and timing of water supplied is at the mercy of an often inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy. A growing movement, especially in India but also in many other parts of the world, is now seeking to revive and update the age-old practice of augmenting the natural recharge of groundwater by trapping rainfall behind small embankments and dams long enough for it to soak through into the ground. In Rajasthan state alone, around 700,000 people benefit from the improved access to groundwater for household use, farm animals, and crops. Not a single family has been displaced in order to achieve this. Rainwater harvesting also works in urban areas, where rain can be caught on rooftops and channeled into tanks. While there in no alternative to life-giving water, there are many alternatives to hydroelectricity. To begin with, we can use electricity more efficiently, but also develop new, renewable sources of energy to reduce our dependence on hydroelectricity. There has never been a fair playing field when dams have been compared with their alternative. Corruption and the power of the big dam lobby, both in government and corporations, has meant that feasibility studies for new dams have regularly underestimated their costs and exaggerated their benefits. If assessment of options for water and energy needs were made comprehensive, transparent and participatory, very few large dams would make the grade. This is no doubt a major factor in the dam industry’s squeals of protest over the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams, which include just such assessments. History shows that trying to dam our way out of our water problems will just make them worse. It also shows that a better water world is possible. Patrick McCully is Campaigns Director of International Rivers Network and author of Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams (Zed Books 1996 and 2001).