Latest news with #wetlands
Mail & Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- Mail & Guardian
A fifth of world's wetlands may vanish by 2050, scientists warn
The destruction of wetlands affects water availability, biodiversity, climate stability and the wellbeing of all life, including people's livelihoods. Photo: File This is according to a This puts up to $39 trillion in ecosystem benefits at risk, more than any other ecosystem. The report found that since 1970, at least 400 million hectares of wetlands have been lost — that is 22% of the global total. And nearly a quarter of those that have survived are in a degraded state, a figure that is increasing. Degradation is now as pressing a concern as outright loss, the report said, warning that these losses significantly affect water availability, biodiversity, climate stability and human well-being. The report was launched before the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Wetlands in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, which starts on Wednesday. Despite covering just 6% of the Earth's surface, wetlands provide ecosystem services that include clean water, food production, flood protection and carbon storage that total more than 7.5% of global GDP. They also support a disproportionately high share of livelihoods across sectors such as agriculture, aquaculture and tourism. Yet every year, 0.52% of wetlands are lost, undermining efforts to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss. The report noted that these losses are unevenly distributed, with the highest rates occurring in low-income regions where wetlands are more ecologically critical and closely linked to local livelihoods, food systems and water supplies. National reports submitted under the Convention on Wetlands and global citizen science data confirm that the ecological condition of wetlands is deteriorating in most regions, particularly in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. But their situation is increasingly worsening in Europe and North America. The wetland types that have experienced the most significant historical declines include inland marshes, peatlands and lakes. Despite their immense value, wetlands continue to be lost or degraded at an alarming rate, 'threatening our collective future', wrote Musonda Mumba, secretary-general of the convention, in the report's foreword. 'The data presented in this outlook are sobering,' she said. 'Wetland degradation is widespread across all regions. Millions of hectares have been lost. Many freshwater species remain at risk.' The societal costs — from reduced access to clean water and increased vulnerability to disasters to rising emissions — are escalating. 'The economic value of the wetlands lost in the last 50 years exceeds $5.1 trillion, yet this figure does not fully reflect their intrinsic worth or cultural significance. While restoration is essential, prevention is more cost-effective. Once degraded, wetlands are expensive and difficult to restore,' Mumba noted. Cumulative pressures, including land-use change, pollution, agricultural expansion, hydrological disruption, invasive species and the effect of climate change — such as rising sea levels and drought — are driving these declines. 'These drivers are frequently interlinked, leading to nonlinear and difficult-to-reverse degradation processes,' the report said. National reports to COP15 showed that 74% of countries are undertaking wetland restoration to some extent, 66% have national targets in place, and more than 70% have identified priority sites. 'However, progress is uneven, and only a limited number of countries are implementing restoration at sufficient scale,' the report said. It detailed how vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society receive fewer of the benefits of wetlands than those with greater assets (such as property rights, financial capital and social status), but are also more dependent upon the goods and services provided by natural wetlands. 'Similarly, when wetlands are converted to other land uses, notably intensive agriculture or built infrastructure, ownership of the benefits tends to be held privately and by those with greater assets, while the cost of losing the wetland ecosystem services tends to fall on the disadvantaged … 'Additionally, disadvantaged groups tend to be more reliant upon regulating services provided by wetlands, such as flood protection and clean water, because they tend to live in more vulnerable areas and have less access to alternative (engineered) options.' Peatlands store more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem yet many are degraded and now emit greenhouse gases rather than storing them. Coastal wetlands, such as mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes, sequester carbon rapidly, and buffer coastlines from rising sea levels and storms. Inland wetlands, such as rivers, lakes and marshes, regulate water flows to help prevent flooding and sustain water supplies during droughts. The report said that without urgent investment in these systems, climate goals will remain out of reach. Four pathways are outlined to reversing wetland loss and 'unlocking nature-positive investment'. These include integrating wetland value in decision-making; recognising wetlands as key to the global water cycle — for their role in storing, filtering, and regulating water; embedding wetlands in innovative financing mechanisms — including carbon markets, resilience bonds and blended finance; and mobilising public and private resources for wetland restoration. The report features a wide selection of case studies that demonstrate progress is possible — and prevention is cheaper than restoration, which can cost anywhere from $1 000 to $70 000 a hectare depending on the ecosystem. In Zambia's Kafue Flats, an A national case study from South Africa highlights the new automated wetland condition assessment methodology developed through the The innovative approach involves 'GIS automation and stakeholder validation to provide a scalable, cost-effective way of tracking wetland ecosystem conditions across the country', the report noted. Coenraad Krijger, the chief executive of Wetlands International, said in a statement that the report is a sobering read, but 'it does showcase pathways to a brighter future — if we all work together'.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
US wetlands ‘restored' using treated sewage tainted with forever chemicals
Many of the nation's wetlands are being filled with toxic Pfas 'forever chemicals' as wastewater treatment plant effluent tainted with the compounds is increasingly used to restore swampland and other waters. The practice threatens wildlife, food and drinking water sources, environmental advocates warn. Effluent is the liquid discharged by wastewater treatment plants after it 'disinfects' sewage in the nation's sewer system. The treatment process largely kills pathogens and the water is high in nutrients that help plants grow, so on one level it is beneficial to struggling ecosystems. But the treatment process does not address any of the hundreds of thousands of chemicals potentially discharged into sewers, including Pfas. Testing has found effluent virtually always contains Pfas at concerning levels, but the practice of using it for wetland restoration is still presented as an environmentally friendly measure. 'There's a huge dark side to this whole business of municipalities using effluent that's carrying loads of Pfas and other toxic materials and calling it 'wetland restoration',' said James Aronson, a restoration ecologist and president of Ecological Health Network non-profit. 'It's truly the worst kind of lying to the public.' Pfas are a class of about 15,000 compounds that are dubbed 'forever chemicals' because they do not naturally break down, and accumulate in the human body and environment. The chemicals are linked to a range of serious health problems such as cancer, liver disease, kidney issues, high cholesterol, birth defects and decreased immunity. The volume of wastewater that plants treat each day makes it virtually impossible to efficiently remove chemicals. Still, effluent has been used to recharge hundreds of wetlands across the country, as well as some rivers and aquifers, when they dry up or are otherwise degraded by human activity. Among the largest projects are in Louisiana, which has increased its use of effluent to restore the bayou and protect against coastal erosion that is in part driven by the installation of levee systems. Florida has in place similar programs aimed at regenerating the Everglades and shorelines. Meanwhile, some rivers in the south-west, like the Trinity River near Dallas, are 'almost entirely' effluent, while in California the Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and other rivers are 'effluent dominated'. Orange county, California, now uses effluent to recharge its aquifer that provides drinking water for 2.5 million people. At the same time, the country's water districts are spending an estimated $1.8bn to install technology that will remove Pfas and other pollutants from the water they pull from the aquifer. The levels of Pfas in effluent at 200 California wastewater treatment plants were almost all thousands of times above the level that the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for some compounds, recent research found. The practice is often billed as 'recycling water' and 'green', but advocates say the terms are misleading because toxic waste is literally being pumped unchecked into the environment. It's not just Pfas – microplastics, heavy metals and other toxins have been found at high levels in effluent. Few regulations around chemicals exist, and though the wastewater industry knows the scale of the problem. It's a 'don't ask, don't tell' issue, said Laura Orlando, a civil engineer with Just Zero non-profit who has worked on waste management design. 'There's lots of hype about recycling and such, but nothing about public health, because they're following the rules – which are not protective of public or ecosystem health,' Orlando said. Though little research into how the levels of Pfas in effluent used to restore wetlands affects wildlife exists, the chemicals can have consequences for animals. For example, in North Carolina, where Pfas discharged from industrial sources polluted wetlands, the chemicals were thought to be behind health problems similar to lupus in alligators and immune impacts on pelicans. 'We're talking about ecosystem health,' Aronson said. 'It's the food web, and soil, animal, and water interactions – everything gets degraded and poisoned, and it's the opposite of restoration.' There is some potential to use some types of wetlands to treat effluent that can then be released as truly clean water. 'Constructed wetlands' are filled with effluent and the inflow and outflow of water is controlled. Those can be filled with plants that take up Pfas and other contaminants. The plants would have to be disposed of in hazardous waste facilities. While there are some efforts to explore how this could work on a broad scale, the chemicals and toxins are a problem that few in the wastewater industry are thinking about, Orlando said. 'Unless you acknowledge the problem you can't fix the problem and we have to examine these words like 'clean' and 'safe',' she said.
CBC
4 days ago
- General
- CBC
Highway 2 expansion through Red Deer wetland prompts conservation concerns
The provincial government is expanding Alberta's busiest highway, but some are worried wetlands near Red Deer will be lost to make way for the widened route. The Highway 2 corridor will be expanded through three phases of construction that will see sections of the route expanded and realigned near the central Alberta city. In preliminary design documents, ministry planners tout the project as a way to provide a smoother, safer ride through the Red Deer region and ease congestion on a highway that serves millions of drivers each year. But as the highway shifts and expands, wetlands and forested areas in Red Deer's Maskepetoon Park will be lost to development — raising concern from conservationists and the City of Red Deer. According to preliminary designs, the highway will cut through the northwest edge of the park, a 30 hectare parcel of land within the Waskasoo Park system along the city's western boundary, just north of the Red Deer River. Todd Nivens, executive director of Waskasoo Environmental Education Society, said the project could cause unforeseen harm to a fragile habitat within Maskepetoon Park, which is rich in biodiversity. A 2007 master plan developed for the City of Red Deer described Maskepetoon Park as an "ecologically significant and valuable area containing many unique natural features." 'Extremely reactive' The wetland, which includes a tamarack fen surrounded by mixed wood forest, serves as an important buffer between the highway to the west, the Red Deer River to the east and south, Nivens said. "The reality is that wetlands are extremely dynamic environments and they are extremely reactive to changes in their inputs," he said. ''We need to really think about what the impacts are going to be. How do we offset that by providing habitat, with the expectation that this space may not survive this process." The province has promised to offset the loss of the wetlands through the creation of a new habitat. According to planning documents, a gravel pit from construction would be converted into a new natural area, with ponds and wetlands, when the highway expansion is finished. An open house in Red Deer on Tuesday was dominated with questions about the wetland. Greg Sikora, Red Deer's parks and public works manager, was there and said residents are concerned about the loss of a beloved habitat. The designs remain preliminary but city is working with the province to minimize the damage and determine how Red Deer can be compensated for the harms the highway is likely to cause to one of the city's cherished parks, he said. Sikora said design features like sound barriers or retaining walls have been considered to provide more protection to the park but such strategies will have a limited effect. "They're open to taking those courses measures," he said. "But putting a road right through a portion of the park, or through a section of it, that's pretty black and white," he said. The city is considering what it will take to compensate Red Deerians for the loss. No replacement will be perfect but city administration is mulling over what exactly they will be asking for in ongoing negotiations, he said. "It is a very sensitive area, but we also understand that we need to work collaboratively," Sikora said. "It is a coveted park by all Red Deerians and people who visit the city." A replacement wetland Sikora said the province has taken the city's concerns seriously and he understands that the safety upgrades must be done within the confines of map crowded by rail lines, parks, waterways and existing infrastructure. "They're trying to thread a highway through there," he said. "I'm very much a strong advocate for the park system, but I also understand the the challenge they're faced with." In a statement to CBC News Thursday, Devin Dreeshen, Alberta's transportation minister, said only areas of the park that were created through the original construction of the highway in the 1960s will be impacted. The design team is working closely with the city to study and minimize the potential impacts, Dreeshen said. Work to convert the gravel pit, an area upstream of the highway known as known as Burnt Lake, has been ongoing for several years, Dreeshen said. "It is approximately twice the size of Maskepetoon Park and contains several large ponds with a total area more than three times the size of the manmade ponds being impacted," Dreeshen said. "Once the construction project is complete, the remaining portion of the gravel pit will be reclaimed, completing the conversion to a natural area." Construction in three phases The project will proceed in three phases. The first phase, expected to begin in late 2025 and take about a year to complete, will see the existing Highway 2 overpass over the CN railway line, north of Red Deer, replaced. A pair of new, three-lane bridges will be constructed, expanding the stretch of highway to a total of six lanes. During the second phase, the highway between the Highway 11 interchange and the Highway 11A interchange, will be widened from four lanes to six. Once that work is complete, construction will move further south to a section of the highway that flanks the Red Deer River, and move in on Maskepetoon Park. Two Red Deer River bridges will be replaced by two, wider structures to the east of the existing bridges. The highway will be realigned with the new bridges, between the 32nd Street and 67th Street interchanges and widened to a total of eight lanes. The widened highway may also cut across the edge of Heritage Park and impact operations at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. The province said the new design will feature gentler curves and slopes for a safer drive through the Red Deer river valley. Only the first phase has been funded to date, with no clear start dates for construction on the rest of the project. Murray Cunningham, chair of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, said construction will likely cause some challenges for their operation, but they are awaiting more details from the province. He was among hundreds of people who attended the open house with provincial planners on Tuesday. "I work in construction and I know that it's always a headache but it's important that the province looks at improvements," Cunningham said. "It's a busy, important road to Red Deer.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
US wetlands ‘restored' using treated sewage tainted with forever chemicals
Many of the nation's wetlands are being filled with toxic Pfas 'forever chemicals' as wastewater treatment plant effluent tainted with the compounds is increasingly used to restore swampland and other waters. The practice threatens wildlife, food and drinking water sources, environmental advocates warn. Effluent is the liquid discharged by wastewater treatment plants after it 'disinfects' sewage in the nation's sewer system. The treatment process largely kills pathogens and the water is high in nutrients that help plants grow, so on one level it is beneficial to struggling ecosystems. But the treatment process does not address any of the hundreds of thousands of chemicals potentially discharged into sewers, including Pfas. Testing has found effluent virtually always contains Pfas at concerning levels, but the practice of using it for wetland restoration is still presented as an environmentally friendly measure. 'There's a huge dark side to this whole business of municipalities using effluent that's carrying loads of Pfas and other toxic materials and calling it 'wetland restoration',' said James Aronson, a restoration ecologist and president of Ecological Health Network non-profit. 'It's truly the worst kind of lying to the public.' Pfas are a class of about 15,000 compounds that are dubbed 'forever chemicals' because they do not naturally break down, and accumulate in the human body and environment. The chemicals are linked to a range of serious health problems such as cancer, liver disease, kidney issues, high cholesterol, birth defects and decreased immunity. The volume of wastewater that plants treat each day makes it virtually impossible to efficiently remove chemicals. Still, effluent has been used to recharge hundreds of wetlands across the country, as well as some rivers and aquifers, when they dry up or are otherwise degraded by human activity. Among the largest projects are in Louisiana, which has increased its use of effluent to restore the bayou and protect against coastal erosion that is in part driven by the installation of levee systems. Florida has in place similar programs aimed at regenerating the Everglades and shorelines. Meanwhile, some rivers in the south-west, like the Trinity River near Dallas, are 'almost entirely' effluent, while in California the Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and other rivers are 'effluent dominated'. Orange county, California, now uses effluent to recharge its aquifer that provides drinking water for 2.5 million people. At the same time, the country's water districts are spending an estimated $1.8bn to install technology that will remove Pfas and other pollutants from the water they pull from the aquifer. The levels of Pfas in effluent at 200 California wastewater treatment plants were almost all thousands of times above the level that the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe for some compounds, recent research found. The practice is often billed as 'recycling water' and 'green', but advocates say the terms are misleading because toxic waste is literally being pumped unchecked into the environment. It's not just Pfas – microplastics, heavy metals and other toxins have been found at high levels in effluent. Few regulations around chemicals exist, and though the wastewater industry knows the scale of the problem. It's a 'don't ask, don't tell' issue, said Laura Orlando, a civil engineer with Just Zero non-profit who has worked on waste management design. 'There's lots of hype about recycling and such, but nothing about public health, because they're following the rules – which are not protective of public or ecosystem health,' Orlando said. Though little research into how the levels of Pfas in effluent used to restore wetlands affects wildlife exists, the chemicals can have consequences for animals. For example, in North Carolina, where Pfas discharged from industrial sources polluted wetlands, the chemicals were thought to be behind health problems similar to lupus in alligators and immune impacts on pelicans. 'We're talking about ecosystem health,' Aronson said. 'It's the food web, and soil, animal, and water interactions – everything gets degraded and poisoned, and it's the opposite of restoration.' There is some potential to use some types of wetlands to treat effluent that can then be released as truly clean water. 'Constructed wetlands' are filled with effluent and the inflow and outflow of water is controlled. Those can be filled with plants that take up Pfas and other contaminants. The plants would have to be disposed of in hazardous waste facilities. While there are some efforts to explore how this could work on a broad scale, the chemicals and toxins are a problem that few in the wastewater industry are thinking about, Orlando said. 'Unless you acknowledge the problem you can't fix the problem and we have to examine these words like 'clean' and 'safe',' she said.
The Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- The Herald
Climate fund targets wildlife bonds for every country in Africa
He said the move would require an investment of $150m (R2.6bn) from the GEF, which would be leveraged 10 times to provide a total of $1.5bn (R26.7bn) for conservation efforts through other borrowing. Money borrowed using wildlife bonds does not typically go onto the books of beneficiary governments, meaning they can offer much-needed financing to poorer countries, climate finance experts said. They usually target emblematic species to appeal to specialist investors and wealthy philanthropists, and their payouts are directly linked to conservation, meaning the better the result the less governments are usually required to pay out. The GEF hopes they can be expanded to include entire ecosystems such as wetlands, Boltz said. The push by the fund, formed after the landmark Rio Earth Summit of 1992, comes as aid and development funding cuts by the US and other major economies threatens some conservation projects. "Many countries are suggesting that in this tough official development assistance environment, maintaining the last level of replenishment may be difficult," Boltz said, "and we might need to try to do more with less". The GEF has in total invested $7.7bn (R137bn) in Africa in projects, including an $85m (R1.5bn) effort to fight desertification in the Sahel region. It is urging donors to replenish its cash for its next four-year cycle of programmes, starting next year. Its last fundraising for its cycle raised $5.3bn (R94bn), an increase of more than 30% from its last operating period amid a surge of support for international efforts to meet nature and climate targets. That funding round received money from 29 countries, with the US among the biggest donors, contributing $700m (R12.4bn). Reuters
