World Wetlands Day 2017 ” Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction”

The World Wetlands Day (WWD) is celebrated every year on 2 February to commemorate the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.
The theme for WWD 2017 “Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction” is chosen to emphasize the importance of these ecosystems as a natural, effective and less costly solution than other hard measures taken to reduce disaster risk and the effects of climate change.

Wetlands have a vital, yet not fully recognized, role for disaster risk reduction and to mitigate the effects of climate change. This comes as a result of some key wetland functions such as those of:

• Flood control to reduce the impacts of floods which can be catastrophic. This function has a value, on average, of 265 million euros per year in France according to the Ministry of Environment (read more here).
• Climate regulation through carbon storage, especially in peatlands;
• Protection from extreme weather events such as lagoons that provide coastal protection against storms;
• Natural water storage performed by marshes and ponds; restitution in the dry period (thus fighting against drought); and the moisturing role in the fight against soil compaction.

Every year since 1997, governmental and non-governmental organizations and citizen groups at all levels of society have taken advantage of WWD’s opportunity to launch actions to raise public awareness of the values and benefits of wetlands in general, and the Ramsar Convention in particular.

This year, the Ramsar Convention Secretariat makes available different types of materials to governments, associations and other stakeholders seeking to communicate raise awareness and promote the celebration of World Wetlands Day on 2 February 2017.