MOSCOW: Roughly 20 per cent of the world’s wetlands could disappear by 2050. These wetlands are among the planet’s most valuable ecosystems, despite being some of the most fragile, scientists from Russia’s Tomsk University have warned, Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
They highlighted that since 1970, humanity has forfeited nearly 22 per cent of these wetlands, an expanse amounting to some 411 million hectares, stressing that, should this trajectory persist, close to 20 per cent of the remaining wetlands may vanish altogether by 2050.
Wetlands encompass swamps, lakes, rivers, artificial reservoirs, as well as the coastal fringes of the seas. Although marshlands alone account for nearly six per cent of the Earth’s surface, they contribute more than 7.5 per cent to global GDP.
These ecosystems not only furnish clean water, shield against floods, and underpin agriculture, but also serve as colossal carbon sinks. Yet, under the twin pressures of climate change and relentless human activity, they are vanishing at a pace outstripping that of any other natural habitat.
Wetlands play a phenomenal role in climate regulation, being capable of sequestering carbon in peat deposits, partially decomposed plant organic matter, for thousands of years.
They are the only type of natural environment that persistently cools the global climate, highlighted Associate Professor at the Biological Institute of Tomsk State University, Dr Irina Volkova.
She pointed out that wetlands contain twice the amount of carbon stored by forests. The vast wetlands of Western Siberia hold particular significance, including the Great Vasyugan Mire, the largest peat basin on Earth.
As such, scientists underscored the importance of conserving wetlands, since they are as imperative as ecology and economy, and their disappearance would lead to climate destabilisation, reduction of fresh waters, and an upsurge in catastrophic floods. – BERNAMA-QNA
