February 02, 2019 Pinkey Ngewu
World Wetlands Day (WWD) on 2 February is a key environmental day on the calendar. This global movement was established in 1971 in order to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet. World Wetlands Day was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and has grown remarkably since then. The Theme for 2019 is, “Wetlands and Climate Change “. Wetlands are impacted by changes in temperature, rainfall , sea level rise and extreme events. Wetlands play an important role in our approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation, through capturing and storing carbon to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases and providing resilience to hazards such as flooding, storm surge and sea level rise . The Dyer Island Conservation Trust’s Environmental Education Programme known as DEEP waa joined by Febe Van Tonder of PlasLantic, a committed supporter of DEEP for the past three years. Educator Pinkey Ngewu presented a wetland model designed by the Marine Dynamics Academy interns and explained how wetlands absorb carbon dioxide.
As Pinkey explained, “The good thing about wetlands is that they can cleanse and filter water as it moves through , but too much contamination can destroy these natural filtering systems”. The DEEP group was encouraged to adapt their mindset that, “We are not powerless against climate change “.
#KeepWetlands #WorldWetlabdsDay
