It is estimated that between 1700 and today, more than 80% of wetlands have disappeared worldwide, while one in three freshwater species and 25% of all wetland species are threatened with extinction.
“It’s time for wetland restoration” is this year’s theme of World Wetlands Day, which is celebrated every year on February 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsye3OPhzXI
According to the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (OFYPECA), all these wetlands, as well as many other smaller ones, make up some of the most beautiful landscapes of our country and are areas of great value and importance, both for nature and for man.
Wetlands perform a number of valuable ecological functions: they host rich biodiversity, retain rainwater and protect against flooding, moderate temperature extremes, improve air quality, store carbon to a greater extent than forests and support a large range of human activities.
And yet, as underlined by OFYPEKA, despite their great value, this year’s celebration of World Wetlands Day again finds wetlands threatened and still under a lot of pressure.
It is estimated that between 1700 and today, more than 80% of wetlands have disappeared worldwide, while one in three freshwater species and 25% of all wetland species are threatened with extinction.
As the managing director of OFYPEKA, Kostas Triantis, said:
“The restoration of natural ecosystems is a challenge for the coming decades. Wetlands, especially island wetlands, are among the most threatened ecosystems on a global scale. These systems are of great importance to local communities, but also to biodiversity and must not be lost. In the very next period we will proceed to complete the registration of the wetlands of our islands and we will propose comprehensive plans for their restoration and protection”.
As it became known, ten years after the institutionalization of the protection of small island wetlands with the Presidential Decree of 12-06-2012 (AAP 229/19.6.2012), the Natural Environment and Climate Change Organization (OFYPEKA) is planning a new comprehensive project proposal for their protection and preservation. The project seeks to update knowledge about the state of wetlands and empower the Organization to effectively monitor them, with the ultimate goal of reducing incidents of degradation and restoring their conservation status.
It is recalled that the Convention on Wetlands was signed on February 2, 1971 in the city of Ramsar, Iran, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
The Ramsar Treaty aims at the protection and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and transnational cooperation, as a contribution to sustainable development.
Greece is one of the first states to sign the convention, in December 1975, under which ten wetlands are protected: the Evros Delta, the Ismarida and Vistonida lakes, Porto Lagos and the surrounding lagoons, the Nestos Delta and the adjacent lagoons, the artificial lake Kerkini, the Volvi and Koroneia lakes, the Axios-Ludia-Aliakmonas Delta, the Amvrakikos Gulf, the Messolonghi Lagoon and the Kotychi Lagoon in the Prefecture of Ilia.
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