Bibliography

Internet Addresses

· Google.co.za
· The destruction and drainage of Wetlands
· Wetland Images

Books
Authors Title
· EnviroTeach 2000-2005 Water and the Enviroment
· Tony Hare/A Watts/Gloucester Habitat Destruction(Save our Earth)
· Andi Walters Wetlands
· Gregory Deanco Water Sources
· Luke Harding Humans and their Enviroment

Bibliography

Internet Addresses

· Google.co.za
· The destruction and drainage of Wetlands
· Wetland Images

Books
Authors Title
· EnviroTeach 2000-2005 Water and the Enviroment
· Tony Hare/A Watts/Gloucester Habitat Destruction(Save our Earth)
· Andi Walters Wetlands
· Gregory Deanco Water Sources
· Luke Harding Humans and their Enviroment

Bibliography

Internet Addresses

· Google.co.za
· The destruction and drainage of Wetlands
· Wetland Images

Books
Authors Title
· EnviroTeach 2000-2005 Water and the Enviroment
· Tony Hare/A Watts/Gloucester Habitat Destruction(Save our Earth)
· Andi Walters Wetlands
· Gregory Deanco Water Sources
· Luke Harding Humans and their Enviroment

Conclusion

Wetlands play a significant role in the environment. Destroying wetlands means fewer birds and less wildlife and decrease in natural recreational facilities. Wetlands form an important role in the environment it impacts both humans and wildlife. By destructing the remaining wetlands, it means we leave a damaged world behind, for our children to inherit.


The loss of these vital wetlands can have a devastating impact on the future of the world!!!

Solutions

Historically, humans have made large-scale efforts to drain wetlands for development or flood them for use as recreational lakes, more focus has been put on preserving wetlands for their natural function—sometimes also at great expense.

Methods used:

• Exclusion—Those responsible for the management of wetland areas often facilitate public access to a small, designated area while restricting access to other areas. Provision of defined boardwalks and walkways is a management strategy used to restrict access to vulnerable areas, as is the issuing of permits whilst visiting.
  


• Education—In the past, wetlands were regarded as wastelands. Education campaigns have helped to change public perceptions and foster public support for the wetlands. Due to their location in the catchment area, education programs need to teach about total catchment management programs. Educational programs include guided tours for the general public, school visits, media liaison, and information centers.
  
  
  Wetland restoration is an essential tool in the campaign to protect, improve, and increase wetlands. Wetlands that have been filled and drained retain their characteristic soil and hydrology, allowing their natural functions to be reclaimed. Restoration is a complex process that requires planning, implementation, monitoring, and management. It involves renewing natural and historical wetlands that have been lost or degraded and reclaiming their functions and values as vital ecosystems. Restoring our lost and degraded wetlands to their natural state is essential to ensure the health of watersheds.
  
  
  How can we protect our remaining wetlands? Through conservation programs. Wetland conservation encompasses the protection, enhancement, and use of wetland resources according to principles that will assure their highest long-term social, economic, and ecological benefits. It is recognized that some wetlands should be protected and managed in their natural state; some actively managed to allow sustained, appropriate use of wetland renewable resources; and some developed for their non-renewable resource values.

Options to prevent further loss of wetlands include the following:

• adding sediment to coastal wetlands to keep up with rising sea levels;
  


• planting grasses to protect coastal sands from erosion;
  


• building dikes or barrier islands; Controlling water levels artificially; developing a national policy of protection.

The Drainage and Destruction of Wetlands

The loss of wetlands also leads to flooding and decreased quality of water in lakes, rivers, and tributaries. Wetlands serve as nature’s sponge and filter, absorbing excess water and cleaning the chemicals, sediments, and excess nutrients that enter the surface water. When wetlands are destroyed, these functions are no longer performed.The major cause of wetland loss is conversion to agricultural use.

Other activities that displace wetlands include residential development, building of roads, utility rights of way, and the creation of sites for large facilities. The regulation of water levels has also caused the shrinkage of wetlands, and a concomitant reduction in the diversity of plant communities and the number of plant species.

Wetlands have been drained, diked and filled to make way for houses and buildings, highways and roadways. Some wetlands still exist, but have been degraded by the effects of fertilizers, pesticides and oil runoff while other wetlands have been threatened by non-native plants. These impaired wetlands cannot function properly in the ecosystem. It is important that we work to protect and restore wetlands so that they can continue to play a critical role


A lot of wetland loss is attributable to agricultural activities, such as draining, diking and plowing of wetlands. Other human activities that lead to wetlands destruction include:

• Development projects, such as subdivisions, shopping malls and business parks
  


• Dikes and levees along rivers to divert flood waters
  


• Pollution
  


• Logging
  


• Mining
  


• Road construction
  


• Non-native invasive plants
  


• Grazing
  
  While the cause for wetland losses worldwide vary, it is clear that human activity has had the greatest impact. While natural events may worsen the losses, it is increasingly important that humans recognize the significant benefits of these areas in terms of biodiversity and the human benefits they offer with regards to both the landscape and economy.

Generally speaking, if wetlands were lost at a greater rate, there could be incredibly significant impacts to both human and wildlife populations. The ecosystem as well as human systems (most notably the economy) would suffer greatly. Wetlands loss has already resulted in dwindling numbers of a variety of species and this in turn has had an impact on the food chain and thus other related species.

What is most significant about wetlands loss is that it is a chain reaction. There is no aspect of the losses that has an impact on just one factor—everything is related in a series of complex ways.

Why are wetlands important?

Wetlands- a natural purification plant.They are rich and productive areas, they remove nutrients from surface and ground water by filtering and by converting nutrients to unavailable forms. Denitrification is arguably the most important of these reactions because humans have increased nitrate worldwide. Many wetlands also provide habitats for resident and migratory fish and wildlife, wetlands offer one of the best natural protections against flooding since they act as giant pads that soak up the excess rain and surface water. Because of the natural topography of wetlands, this absorbed water is evenly distributed over a large expanse and is almost immediately sucked into the ground where it feeds wetland plants.

Wetlands do not just assist human populations with drinking water and flood control and flood or hurricane damage reduction; they also serve as an important element of the economy. Wetlands sustain more life than any other ecosystem – as much as many tropical forests and more than good farmland. The high plant productivity of wetlands supports hundreds of different species and provides the critical breeding and rearing habitat for a wide diversity of wildlife. Wetlands act as natural water purification systems removing sediment, nutrients, and toxins from flowing water. They also reduce the effects of flooding.
Wetland functions:

• improve water quality by filtering out sediment and other contaminants
  


• provide ecological habitats for migrating bird populations
  


• breeding grounds for fish and shellfish
  


• moderate the effects of flooding - slow run-off, especially downstream from urban centers
  


• shoreline erosion control - act as a buffer for coastal storms
  


• recreation - canoeing, hunting, fishing, bird watching
  


• Act as recharge areas for groundwater.
  


• they absorb the impact of hydrologic events such as large waves or floods;
  


• they filter sediments and toxic substances;
  


• they supply food and essential habitat for many species of fish, shellfish, shorebirds, waterfowl, and furbearing mammals;
  


• they also provide products for food (wild rice, cranberries, fish, wildfowl), energy (peat, wood, charcoal), and building material (lumber);
  


• They are valuable recreational areas for activities such as hunting, fishing, and bird watching.
  
  
  Humans can maximize the area of healthy, functioning intertidal wetlands by minimising their impacts and by developing management strategies that protect, and where possible rehabilitate those ecosystems at risk.