Wetland conservation and protection is in the spotlight this month as we approach 2 February 2021, which is not only World Wetlands Day, but also marks 50 years since the signing of an international agreement aimed at conserving and protecting wetlands across the globe.

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (the Ramsar Convention) came into being on 2 February 1971, named after the small town in Iran where it was signed.

Australia was one of the five founding nations to sign the Convention which is aimed at halting the global loss of all wetlands and conserving and protecting those that remain. Australia listed the world’s first wetland under the convention. The list has steadily grown to now encompass more than 2,400 wetlands of international importance globally.

The theme for 2021, ‘Wetlands and Water’, highlights the role wetlands play in providing clean water, ecosystem resilience, and biodiversity conservation, among many other benefits.

Healthy Land & Water is taking the opportunity to showcase some of the great wetlands activities and projects it leads in South East Queensland.

Significant wetlands in our South East Queensland backyard

Australia is home to 66 Ramsar wetlands, covering more than 8.3 million hectares across all our states and territories.

Moreton Bay is one of Australia’s iconic wetland sites, covering more than 120,000 hectares.

The Moreton Bay Ramsar site is home to many different coastal habitats and environments including freshwater wetlands, beaches, saltmarsh, mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds.

It supports more than 50,000 wetland birds and a high diversity of marine mammals and provides habitat for more than 750 species of fish.

We hope you enjoy reading more about our work to support wetland conservation.

Find out more about some of our wetland conservation projects here.

Many of the above projects are part of Healthy Land & Water’s Ramsar Wetland program and have been made possible through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. To find out more about the projects, click on the image to read the full article.