World Wetlands Day

World Wetlands Day is an environmentally related celebration which dates back to the year of 1971 when several environmentalists gathered to reaffirm the protection and love for wetlands.[1] For those who don't know, wetlands are the small environments of plant life and organisms found within water bodies that bring about ecological health in abundance to not only water bodies but environments as a whole. The World Wetlands Secretary Department is originally from Gland, Switzerland[2] and in accordance to the beginning of World Wetlands Day, the Ramsar convention first attributed this recognition in "the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea".[2]

Children celebrating World Wetlands Day

World Wetlands Day is celebrated on the second day of February every year, though it was not originally celebrated until 1997.[3] This day serves to recognize the influence and positive production that Wetlands have had on the world and in terms brings communities together for the benefit of Mother Nature. This day, also raises global awareness because wetlands play a significant role not only in people but in the planet. Community protectors and environmental enthusiast all come together on this day to celebrate their love for nature through celebration, which recognizes what wetlands have done for not only us humans, but all sorts of organisms in this world.[1]

Over time, human construction has led to various ecological problems affecting wetlands. Over-population and construction has led to a decrease in environmental conservation and in total has brought upon issues to these marvelous lands. Many wetlands are being lost and we must recognize this dilemma before we lose a natural filter and conserver of the world. Whenever you look into a water body and see a small environment of plant life and organisms, a wetland is in observation and we as world community should protect these dear communities of life.This is why we celebrate wetlands on World Wetlands Day![4]

Partnership

Since 1998, the Ramsar Secretariat have partnered with Danone Group Evian Fund for Water (based out of Paris and founded in Barcelona, Spain) for financial support. For The Ramsar Secretariat, also known as Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat, this financial support has produced a variety of outreach materials which include logos, posters, factsheets, handouts and guide documents to support country activities organized to celebrate WWD. These materials are available for free download on the World Wetlands Day website in the three languages of the Convention: English, French, and Spanish[1] With that being said, all the materials are also available in their design files for event organizers to customize and adapt them to their local languages and contexts. A few print copies are available to countries upon request to the Secretariat.[5]

World Wetlands Day Youth Photo Contest
World Wetlands Day celebrations in Sri Lanka

Starting in 2015, a month-long Wetlands Youth Photo Contest that starts on 2 February, was introduced as a part of a new approach to target young people and get them involved in WWD. People between ages 15 through 24 can take a picture of a certain wetland and upload it to the World Wetlands Day website between the months of February and March.[6] Thanks to Star Alliance Biosphere Connections, the prize awarded to the winner of the photo contest is a chance to visit a wetland of their choice from the over 2200 Ramsar Sites all over the world.

Since 1997 the Ramsar website has posted reports from about 100 countries of their WWD activities. In 2016 a map of events was introduced to help countries promote their activities and to facilitate reporting after WWD[2]

World Wetlands Day Themes

Each year a theme is selected to focus attention and help raise public awareness about the value of wetlands. Countries organize a variety of events to raise awareness such as; lectures, seminars, nature walks, children’s art contests, sampan races, community clean-up days, radio and television interviews, letters to newspapers, to the launch of new wetland policies, new Ramsar Sites and new programs at the national level.

The theme for World Wetlands Day in 2021 is expected to be "Wetlands and Water" and it will based on the contribution wetlands and water have had in people and the planet.[7]

2021 Wetlands and water
2020 Wetlands and Biodiversity
2019 Wetlands and Climate Change
2018 Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future
2017 Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction
2016 Wetlands For Our Future: Sustainable Livelihoods
2015 Wetlands For Our Future
2014 Wetlands and Agriculture: Partners for Growth
2013 Wetlands Take Care of Water
2012 Wetland Tourism: A great experience
2011 Forests for water and wetlands
2010 Caring for wetlands – An answer to climate change
2009 Upstream, Downstream: Wetlands connect us all
2008 Healthy Wetlands, Healthy People
2007 Fish for tomorrow?
2006 Livelihoods at Risk
2005 There's Wealth in Wetland Diversity – Don't Lose It
2004 From the mountains to the sea – Wetlands at work for us
2003 No wetlands – no water
2002 Wetlands : Water life and culture
2001 A wetland world – A world to discover
2000 Celebrating our wetlands of international importance
1999 People and wetlands- the vital link
1998 Importance of water to life & role of wetlands in water supply
1997 WWD celebrated for the first time

References
  1. "Home - WorldWetlandsDay". www.worldwetlandsday.org.
  2. "World Wetlands Day | Ramsar". www.ramsar.org.
  3. "World Wetlands Day". www.environment.gov.au.
  4. "Education & Outreach". www.sws.org.
  5. "Contacts". www.ramsar.org.
  6. "February 2nd: World Wetlands Day | WWF". wwf.panda.org. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  7. "World Wetlands Day 2021". sdg.iisd.org.
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