The world is suffering social, economic, and environmental hardship resulting from the destruction and mismanagement of natural resources, including wetlands and water resources. This destruction, which continues at alarming rates, is contributing to escalating poverty, water supply issues, and food security problems, as well as depriving the planet of the biological diversity with which wetlands are endowed. Its causes are multiple, ranging from local actions and national policies to global issues.
Wetlands, as defined by the Ramsar Convention, cover a wide variety of habitat types, including rivers and lakes, coastal lagoons, mangroves, peatlands, and even coral reefs. In addition, there are human-made wetlands such as fish and shrimp ponds, farm ponds, irrigated agricultural land, salt pans, reservoirs, gravel pits, sewage farms, and canals.
Wetlands are among the world's most productive environments. They are cradles of biological diversity, providing the water and primary productivity upon which countless species of plants and animals depend for survival. They support high concentrations of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrate species. Of the 20,000 species of fish in the world, more than 40% live in freshwater. Wetlands are also important storehouses of plant genetic material. Rice, for example, which is a common wetland plant, is the staple diet of more than half of humanity.
The interactions of physical, biological, and chemical components of a wetland, such as soils, water, plants, and animals, enable the wetland to perform many vital functions. These include water storage, storm protection and flood mitigation, shoreline stabilisation and erosion control, groundwater recharge and discharge, water purification through retention of nutrients, sediments, and pollutants, and the stabilisation of local climate conditions, particularly rainfall and temperature.
Wetlands contribute to humanity’s well-being in multiple ways. These contributions come directly, in the form of food and other raw materials, but also by less obvious means, such as flood regulation, the mitigation of climate change, and in spiritual and cultural ways. When wetlands are degraded or destroyed, the result is a reduction in ecosystem services and associated benefits that wetlands provide to people.
These benefits are often undervalued in conventional economic accounts. As a result, wetlands have not historically been seen as valuable assets, such as natural capital, that can depreciate if not cared for. In recent decades, environmental economists have begun to estimate the value of natural capital and ecosystem goods and services, largely as a means of bringing nature’s contribution to people to the attention of policymakers. Previous studies have estimated wetland ecosystem service values, yielding wide ranges, both between different wetland types and between studies.
If these ecosystem functions are lost through the degradation and encroachment of wetlands, Pakistan will lose important resources and be more vulnerable to natural disasters, as it has already lost or degraded over 60% of its inland wetlands
The value of nature should not be considered solely in monetary terms. Societies also place intrinsic and relational values upon nature, recognising the potential for people to live in harmony with it. Land-use change, through agriculture and urbanisation, has the largest relative negative impact on nature, including wetlands. Agricultural activities remain the largest driver of wetland loss, through conversion to cropland along with other industrial activities, and have resulted in stressed global water resources.
Food and agricultural production accounts for 70% of water withdrawals globally, while other industries such as energy, mining, and manufacturing account for another 19%. Water abstraction and pollution from industrial activities directly contribute to wetland loss and degradation. Intensive use of water, from agriculture, urban areas, and industry, has resulted in unprecedented water security risks that threaten nature, human well-being, and livelihoods.
Climate change is increasingly exacerbating the impact of other drivers on wetlands and human well-being, through changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, associated fires, floods, and droughts, and through sea-level rise. The contribution of wetlands to people is also declining as a consequence of ecosystem degradation, which is likely to represent a further cost to humanity.
Wetland degradation comes in many forms, including chemical pollution, unsustainable harvesting of species and raw materials, and physical changes such as dams, which affect hydrology and reduce the connectivity of river ecosystems. Unlike wetland loss, degradation occurs in various degrees, from minor perturbations to a natural system to the almost complete loss of natural communities, processes, and functions.
There are numerous examples of how degradation can reduce wetlands’ contributions to people. For example, eutrophication, sedimentation, and organic pollution of wetlands can severely reduce fish populations and hence food provisioning services.
Despite its arid climate, Pakistan supports over 780,000 hectares of wetlands, covering 9.7% of the total land area, with 225 nationally significant wetlands, of which 19 have been recognised as Ramsar sites of global significance. It has a wide diversity of wetland types, representing the passage of the Indus River from glaciers and high alpine lakes, through riverine and freshwater lakes, to the coastal wetlands of the Indus Delta.
These wetlands provide often unrecognised benefits and services, such as provisioning of food and fibre production; regulating services such as water balance, groundwater recharge, flood mitigation, and storm protection; cultural and social functions such as sacred and religious importance; recreation and tourism opportunities; and supporting functions such as soil formation and sediment retention.
If these ecosystem functions are lost through the degradation and encroachment of wetlands, Pakistan will lose important resources and be more vulnerable to natural disasters, as it has already lost or degraded over 60% of its inland wetlands.
World Wetlands Day is observed each year on 2 February. The theme for this year is “Wetlands and Traditional Knowledge: Celebrating Cultural Heritage”. It highlights the deep-rooted connections between wetlands and the cultural practices, traditions, and knowledge systems of communities across the globe.
Recognising and integrating traditional knowledge enhances wetland conservation and fosters inclusive, community-based approaches. Respecting and integrating traditional knowledge systems in wetland conservation is just and essential for effective, inclusive, and lasting environmental solutions.
The degradation of wetlands undermines human well-being, impacts human rights, and erodes traditional knowledge systems. It is time to scale up action and ensure wetlands are central to safeguarding cultural heritage and sustaining the traditional knowledge systems that have long protected these vital ecosystems.