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In pictures: Wonderful Wetlands, celebrating World Wetlands Day

Posted by Angela Glienicke - 2nd February 2016


Today NGOs and community groups around the world raise awareness and promote the conservation of wetlands and celebrate World Wetlands Day. This year’s theme is “Wetlands for our future; sustainable livelihoods”.

The importance of wetlands in providing a habitat, hosting a vast variety of life, as well the threat they can be under is illustrated in our archive pictures below.

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The proposed expansion of the Abbot Pt Coal Terminal will directly affect the surrounding wetlands. The wetlands are a habitat for over 200 species of birds including the Australian Painted Snipe.

© Tom Jefferson / Greenpeace 2013

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Dust from coal trains crossing the Abbot Point and Caley Valley wetlands will pollute the water, and the infrastructure such as bund walls to hold dredge spoil will damage the water flow.

© Tom Jefferson / Greenpeace 2013

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Aerial view of a wetlands destined for tar sands mining in the Boreal forest north of Fort McMurray, northern Alberta.

G Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace 2009

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Horses at a swamp in the Pantanal, Brazil.

© Chrisitan Kaiser / Greenpeace 1995

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Silhouette of birds on a branch at Pantanal Wetlands in Brazil.

© Markus Mauthe / Greenpeace 2013

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Owls seen at Pantanal Wetlands in Brazil.

© Markus Mauthe/ Greenpeace 2013

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Aerial view of the Pantanal Wetlands in Brazil.

© Markus Mauthe / Greenpeace 2013

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A worker from PT. Raja Garuda Mas Sejati – a palm oil company belonging to the Asian Agri group, a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palmoil (RSPO) – tries to extinguish a peatland fire within the company concession near Tanjung Muara Sako village, Langgam subdistrict in Pelalawan regency, Riau province, Indonesia.

© Ulet  Ifansasti / Greenpeace 2013

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Canals are dug by the privately owned concessions to drain the peatland in Sungai Tohor, Kepulauan Meranti District, Sumatra, Indonesia.

Draining the canals causes forest fires that can continue for days or even months.

© Katarina Premfors / Greenpeace 2015

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The local community along with Greenpeace and local organisations Save our Borneo and the Centre for International Cooperation in Sustainable Management of Tropical Peatland (CIMTROP) at the University of Palangka Raya begin the construction on a community dam to block a canal draining peatlands for plantations in Paduran Village, Sebangau Sub-district, Pulang Pisau Regency, Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia.

© Ardiles Rante / Greenpeace 2015


Article Tagged as: Featured, Forests, in pictures