Speaking on World Wetlands Day 2021, Janet Finch-Saunders MS – the Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Environment – has today (02 February) highlighted the health and well-being benefits of such habitats, as well as their essential role in community flood protection.
Wales is home to many types of wetlands including fens, grazing marshes, swamps, and marshy grasslands. The biodiversity benefits of these lands are clear - around 40% of the world’s wildlife relies on freshwater wetlands, with a tenth of British species choosing to make these lands their home. Moreover, and in relation to climate change, whilst peatlands cover about 3% of the earth’s surface, they store approximately 30% of all soil carbon.
Speaking on the benefits of Welsh wetlands, Janet said:
“In the year of COP26, World Wetlands Day is an important moment to pause and recognise the benefits that these habitats offer our native species, as well as our collective health and well-being. With staggering wetland loss occurring across the globe, and Wales' wish to become a global environmental leader, this recognition is crucial if we are to provoke action.
“Through naturally forming peat, wetlands and our blanket bog are an important tool in the global fight against climate change. These sites not only help to tackle the issue through carbon storage – where carbon becomes buried in sediment - but also address biodiversity loss, as they provide safe homes for some of our most endangered British species.
“With Wales experiencing an ongoing flood crisis, these natural wetlands will become a key weapon in our arsenal. They not only provide communities with further flood protection by slowing down, and also storing, flood flows, but encourage crucial natural management skills.
“In my visits to the wetlands at Conwy’s RSPB nature reserve, it is also clear that these sites remain important for our physical and mental health. Our wetland fascination suggests that these habitats might play an especially important role in future green social prescribing methods, with research on the pivotal role that these habitats can play ongoing.”
ENDS
Photo: Dave Hoefler on Unsplash
