Light shines on vanishing wetlands
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This Sunday, 2 February, marks World Wetlands Day.
The 2025 theme, Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future, highlights the ecosystems’ essential role in biodiversity, community sustenance, and cultural heritage.
In the past five decades, over 30 per cent of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed due to human activity.
Wetlands provide clean water, food, storm protection, and climate change adaptation. However, experts say they are being lost three times faster than forests, underscoring the urgency for global action.
World Wetlands Day commemorates the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, a global treaty adopted on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. It became a United Nations International Day in 2022.
Australia, a founding signatory, has listed 67 wetlands under the convention, covering more than 8.3 million hectares.
These include iconic sites such as Kakadu National Park, Gippsland Lakes, and Moreton Bay. The Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory was the first Ramsar site, designated in 1974.
Since the last World Wetlands Day, Australia has actively participated in global conservation efforts, including Ramsar Standing Committee meetings in Switzerland, which developed a new strategic plan and updated waterbird population data.
Additionally, Australia has supported youth-led wetland conservation initiatives in the Pacific region.
Individuals can join the movement by participating in local conservation projects, becoming citizen scientists, or visiting Ramsar-listed wetlands.
As nearly 90 per cent of the world’s wetlands have been degraded since the 1700s, the day serves as a reminder of the collective responsibility to protect these vital ecosystems for future generations.
