The theme of the 2021 edition of World Wetlands Day (2 February) is “Wetlands and water”. It is an occasion to ponder the crucial role of Mediterranean wetlands.
Wetlands provide numerous ecosystem services that include the purification of water, the mitigation of floods and droughts, groundwater replenishment, sediment retention and carbon sequestration. Within Mediterranean ecosystems, wetlands are particularly important for biodiversity. Although they occupy approximately 2 per cent of the land area, they are home to more than 30 per cent of the basin’s vertebrate species. It is estimated that there are twice as many endangered species in wetlands than in all Mediterranean ecosystems combined.
The State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean (SoED) indicates that the basin hosts up to 26 million hectares of wetlands. According to a broad sample of 400 wetland sites, 48 per cent of natural wetland habitats were lost between 1970 and 2013. The degradation is mainly caused by human activities such as dam building or drainage. A study quoted in SoED revealed that, in a sample of five Mediterranean coastal watersheds, wetlands lost 20 per cent of the capacity to mitigate the impacts of floods, mainly due to the conversion of natural habitats into agricultural and urban zones, and intense development of human activities in areas prone to flooding.
Climate change is compounding the predicament of coastal wetlands. The intensive use of water in Mediterranean catchment areas to meet growing human demand may lead to groundwater depletion and seawater intrusion. This is likely to accelerate the salinization of soils and groundwater with freshwater wetlands turning brackish.
The Mediterranean region hosts around 400 coastal lagoons that provide important feeding areas for many marine species and thus contribute to the sustainability of fish stocks, including the sea bream— Sparus aurata—, a valuable source of protein and a sought-after delicacy in many Mediterranean countries. Coastal lagoons epitomize the land-sea interactions that are recognized in the Barcelona Convention (following its amendment in 1995) and addressed in its Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development.
The handbook on Coastal Wetlands Governance, the production of which the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre PAP/RAC initiated and coordinated in a joint effort with IUCN and the MAVA Foundation for Nature, provides practical guidelines on the governance of coastal wetlands around the Mediterranean, whether they are formally protected under the Ramsar Convention, designated under national or local legislation or lacking any formal protection.
In 2019, the UNEP/MAP Regional Activity Centre Plan Bleu published a paper that highlights, based on the Regional Climate Change Adaptation Framework for the Mediterranean Marine and Coastal Areas, several key policy recommendations, including the need for greater integration of Nature-Based Solution (NBS) into national policies across sectors. In practice, this also entails weaving NBS into national plans for climate mitigation and adaptation, such as the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans required under the Paris Agreement, as well as Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) plans under the Sendai Framework.
The Plan Bleu paper also recommends the introduction of “Green City” schemes to improve urban resilience to climate-induced shocks and possible water and food shortages. Biodiversity-friendly agriculture and aquaculture practices, such as agroecology would generate benefits in food security, rural and coastal livelihood protection, and employment opportunities, the Plan Bleu paper notes.
Observation and the production of quality-assured data will continue to be crucial for the introduction of evidence-based policies and measures. Key elements of the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme (IMAP)—a groundbreaking instrument introduced by UNEP/MAP—include common indicators pertaining to coastal ecosystems, landscapes and hydrography in the Mediterranean region.
A new push for compliance with the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols would boost efforts to protect coastal wetlands and the entire basin.
Learn more:
- ICZM platform (PAP/RAC)
- Handbook on Coastal Wetlands Governance
- Mediterranean Coast Day (25 September)
- State of the Environment and Development in the Mediterranean Report
- First Mediterranean Assessment Report (MAR1) on “Climate and Environmental Change in the Mediterranean Basin – Current Situation and Risks for the Future”
- Monitoring and assessment: a core part of the UNEP/MAP mandate
