Sir, - Perhaps Irish society is changing in the way we value water and wetlands. The usual media reports of pollution incidents, drainage, development pressures, and landfill were replaced on September 3rd by a report on an award to Olga Rogers for a reed-bed filter system and a letter by Karin Dubsky linking the mismanagement of our rivers and coastal wetlands to recent floods and fish kills. We need to reinforce these positive measures by a much greater understanding of the value of wetlands.
With only 1 per cent of the earth's water fresh and unfrozen, wetlands (inter-tidal coastal waters, lakes, rivers peatlands and marshes) are vital to the water cycle. They act as giant reservoirs releasing water when we need it and as natural flood-control systems giving us natural protection against storms and flood. Wetland plants also help to reduce erosion by binding silt and sediment and stabilising banks and shores.
By slowing down the passage of water, they allow not only the settlement of nutrient-rich silt but the cleansing and filtering of pollutants by wetlands plants. It is exciting that we can also actually create new wetland habitats for wildlife, recreation, pollution and flood control in very cost-effective ways that compete favourably with conventional engineered technology. Integrating the many benefits of created wetlands into developments is an essential component of what it means to live sustainably and there are now many examples of this throughout the world.
Wetlands are nature's larder. They provide rice, most of the world's fish and shellfish, raw materials as well as crops and livestock that thrive on rich fertile floodpaths. Wetlands are also of intrinsic benefit to other species and provide Ireland with our most important wildlife showcases, sometimes of global importance - the spectacle of wintering waterfowl, the beauty of peatland damselflies, the mystery of migratory fish.
While celebrating nature is not our strong point and may take generations to evolve, we can start by respecting water and wetlands and, at the very least, attempt to understand the basic ecological principles of the total dependence of our species on this most fragile of habitats. It is alarming that many such habitats continue to be lost at a time when our ecological literacy on this subject is still in its infancy. - Yours, etc.,
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Comber, Co Down.