Restoration in the focus of World Wetlands Day

This year’s celebration of World Wetlands Day, on February 2^nd, emphasizes the restoration of these valuable and endangered areas. The importance of wet habitats for humans and other organisms is reflected in their ability to mitigate the effects of climate change because of their ability to absorb excess water during flooding, while in dry periods they release accumulated water into the environment. Wetlands are sources of drinking water and areas where organisms find food, places to rest, reproduce, and in the case of humans, recreate.

An unbelievable and worrying fact is that these types of habitats are disappearing three times faster than forest habitats. By drying, filling, and polluting, wetlands are degraded or completely destroyed and are used as construction sites or converted into agricultural areas. Precisely because of this, the goal of this year’s celebration is to encourage the restoration of wetland habitats, that is, the restoration of their function and preservation in a favorable condition.

After a break that lasted a few years, this year we continue to visit local schools and hold educational activities such as the Bird Masquerade Ball, and Tiny Marsh for elementary school students. We are also collaborating with high school students from the School of Applied Art and Design, Zadar, who will present challenges and threats faced by the protection of wetlands, but also water organisms that depend on clean and preserved water ecosystems through the project called Magical Swamp.