(^56) Hampshire Life: February 2019
V
ast expanses of
saturated land,
marshes and swamps,
the UK’s wetlands are
home to around 10 per cent of
our native wildlife, catering for
everything from wading curlew
to swooping dragonflies. What’s
more, the distinct ecosystem
also has an important role in
regulating our environments,
naturally limiting flooding
and storing carbon from our
atmosphere.
It’s troubling then that there
has been a decrease of around
90 per cent of our natural
wetlands since the Industrial
Revolution, thanks to extensive
urbanisation and repurposed
farmland. “The whole of the UK
landscape is incredibly modified,”
Mark Simpson from Wildfowl &
Wetlands Trust (WWT) explains.
“We always think of towns and
cities and lots of people packed
into the UK, but every bit of
farmland is also modified from its
natural state.”
And we’re really starting to
see the impact of our depleted
wetlands, with each year the risk
of powerful floods increasing.
“There isn’t the natural
infrastructure to slow down the
flow of water, and we do get big
Wa t e r wo r l d
World Wetlands Day celebrates wetlands all over the
globe this month – but why are they so important?
WORDS: Fay Watson
Asian Short-clawed Otters
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