Protect wetlands-Save Biodiversity

Protect wetlands-Save Biodiversity world wetlands day, 02 February 2020

Wetland lovers of all around the world celebrated the World Wetlands Day 2020, on Sunday, 2 February. "Wetlands and Biodiversity" is the theme for 2020. Wetlands are rich with biodiversity and are a habitat for a dense variety of plant and animal species. Latest estimates show a global decline of biodiversity, while wetlands are disappearing three times faster than forests.

These Comb Duck were captured at Kimbulawala, at Diyawanna Lake. The comb duck or American comb duck (Sarkidiornis sylvicola), breeds in still freshwater swamps and lakes in the tropics. These Ducks feed on vegetation by grazing or dabbling and to a lesser extent on small fish, invertebrates, and seeds. It can become a problem to rice farmers.

The glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is a wading bird in the ibis family Threskiornithidae. The scientific name derives from Ancient Greek word meaning "sickle" referring to the distinctive shape of the bill. Glossy ibises feed in very shallow water and nest in freshwater or brackish wetlands with tall dense stands of emergent vegetation.

Wetlands can be categorised as world's most productive ecosystems, supporting immense biodiversity. They are often home to thousands, of individual plant, fish, bird, reptile, and mammal species — a natural richness comparable to that of rainforests and coral reefs.

The black-winged stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is a widely distributed very long-legged wader. The breeding habitat of all these stilts is marshes, shallow lakes and ponds. They were captured at Mundalama Lagoon in Western Sri Lanka.

At Mundalama: The marsh sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis) is a small wader. It is a rather small shank, and breeds in open grassy steppe and taiga wetlands from easternmost Europe to central Asia.

Wetlands are essential for human survival and are of huge economic value. Water purification and waste treatment, flood control and storm protection, carbon storage and sequestration, fisheries, and recreational opportunities provided by wetlands are globally valued at $47 trillion annually.

Captured at Mundalama Lagoon: The green sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) is a small wader (shorebird). Their food is small invertebrate items picked off the mud as this species works steadily around the edges of its chosen pond.

Captured at Anawilundawa Wetland: The wood sandpiper (Tringa glareola) is a small wader. The wood sandpiper breeds in subarctic wetlands from the Scottish Highlands across Europe and Asia.This bird is usually found on freshwater during migration and wintering.

At Anawilundawa: Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensisis) common in dry lowlands up to lower hills in Sri Lanka. It is known as "Dumbonna" among Sinhalese people meaning Smoke-drinker since it has a habit of flying over the grass and shrub fires usually when burning jungles for chena cultivation to catch grasshoppers, beetles and other flying insects disturbed by the fire.

We are losing wetlands at an alarming rate. Up to 87% of global wetlands have been lost since 1700, with the largest proportion lost during the 20th and early 21st centuries. Agriculture, urban and industrial development, introduction of invasive species, pollution, and over-exploitation all contribute to ongoing degradation of wetlands.

At Anawilundawa: The Eurasian whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) is a wader feeds by probing soft mud for small invertebrates and by picking small crabs and similar prey off the surface.

Thank you Ajith Gamage who took us this long journey towards World Wetlands Day 2020 through his collection of Bird Photography. Ajith sharing these photographs with GWP South Asia and said “Let's join hands to conserve BIRDS

The Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands, provides guidance on the wise use of wetlands. “Wise use” was a highly progressive term when coined by the Convention’s founders in 1973, long before sustainable development was mainstreamed, and it continues to be useful today.

Thank You!

Appreciate

Credits:

Ajith Gamage