CRM 2042_Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Wetland degradation, destruction, loss

and consequences

Ms. Ahalya Suresh

Dept. of Coastal and Marine Resources Management
Ocean University of Sri Lanka
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Wetland degradation…

• Wetlands, amongst the world’s most economically

valuable ecosystems and essential regulators of the
global climate, are disappearing three times faster than
forests.
• Wetlands include some of the most carbon-dense
ecosystems in our planet, such as salt marshes, sea
grass beds and mangroves.
• Peatlands, that account for just 3% of the world’s land surface, store twice as
much carbon as forests, playing a pivotal role in delivering global commitments
on climate change, sustainable development and biodiversity.
• Wetlands also help reduce disaster risk, as they mitigate floods and protect
coastlines.
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Wetland degradation…

• Despite their essential role in global climate regulation, wetlands remain

undervalued by policy and decision-makers in national plans. Approximately
35% of the world’s wetlands were lost between 1970-2015 and the loss rate is
accelerating annually since 2000.

• Losses have been driven by megatrends such as climate change, population

increase, urbanization, particularly of coastal zones and river deltas, and
changing consumption patterns that have all fueled changes to land and water
use and to agriculture.

• The world’s remaining wetlands are under threat due to water drainage,
pollution, unsustainable use, invasive species, disrupted flows from dams and
sediment dumping from deforestation and soil erosion upstream.
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Wetland degradation…

• With the development of human economic stages, the status of marine

mammals, coastal birds, fish, reptiles, invertebrates, vegetation, water quality,
and invasive species have all faced serious deterioration, and the trend has
accelerated since the global market economy began in the 1900s.

• The general deterioration trend continued after year 2000 with limited
restoration efforts scattered at different sites.

• It is a critical time to stop depletion of this vulnerable ecosystem and make

efforts to restore the coastal wetlands wherever possible.
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Wetland degradation…
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Wetland degradation…

• With the development of human economic stages, the status of marine

mammals, coastal birds, fish, reptiles, invertebrates, vegetation, water quality,
and invasive species have all faced serious deterioration, and the trend has
accelerated since the global market economy began in the 1900s.

• The general deterioration trend continued after year 2000 with limited
restoration efforts scattered at different sites.

• It is a critical time to stop depletion of this vulnerable ecosystem and make

efforts to restore the coastal wetlands wherever possible.
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Wetlands are particularly degraded,

with 87% lost globally in the last 300
years; 54% since 1900.
-Ramsar convention
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

How wetlands are being lost?

• Human Activity: Human activities which may lead to losses of coastal

wetlands include urban and rural development, agriculture, and silviculture.
These land use changes can also indirectly impact nearby wetlands by altering
hydrology through increased runoff or water withdrawals in the watershed.
Most of this loss occurs in freshwater wetlands.

• Natural Processes: Coastal wetlands, especially estuarine and marine

wetlands, are naturally altered by high energy events such as erosion and
inundation from sea level rise and storms. The impacts of these processes may
be magnified by climate change and shoreline armoring. Estuarine wetlands
typically protect the coastline from erosion and flooding, but if sea level
increases and development prevents inland migration of wetlands, more
wetlands will be converted to open water
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

How wetlands are being lost?

• Land reclamation
• Dams and reservoirs constructed in rivers have prevented 20% of the global
sediment inputs from reaching the coast. This would cause issues of siltation
• Subsurface mining of oil, gas, and water often accelerate ground compaction
and delta sinking, causing frequent flooding
• Degradation caused by saltwater intrusion, drought, and pollution are also
threatening the health of coastal wetlands
• Eutrophication in coastal waters can influence the coastal wetland ecosystem
by changing the structure of biotic communities, as well as the relationships
between different species
• Invasive species often cause coastal wetland degradation. It out-competes
native species resulting in habitat degradation
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

How wetlands are being lost?

• Sea level rise is thought to be one of the potential threats for coastal wetlands;
it is still controversial because wetlands can migrate landward if no seawall or
steep relief exists behind the wetlands, but this is often not the case. “Coastal
squeeze” is the concept proposed to describe coasts without retreating space
facing sea level rise
• Wind waves also play an important role in the erosion and loss of salt marshes
worldwide, especially at boundary zones
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

How wetlands are being lost?

• expansion of urban settlements;

• extraction of sand and gravel;
• reclamation of estuaries, lagoons, lake shores and river margins;
• drainage of swamps on farm land;
• humping and hollowing;
• drainage to plant exotic forests;
• fire;
• enriched run-off from fertilizers, animal waste and effluent from silage pits,
• sewage ponds and septic tanks;
• invasion of weeds and animal pests;
• grazing by stock;
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

How wetlands are being lost?

• lowered water levels because of drainage of surrounding land;

• removal of natural riparian vegetation from wetland edges;
• poorly placed culverts that prevent migration of native fish upstream;
• poorly managed recreational usage;
• over extraction of resources eg. sphagnum moss;
• sediment build up in estuaries from more soil being washed into the
waterways because of deforestation and stock-trampled river banks, and
• the human mind set that wetlands are of no importance to us and are an eye-
sore.
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Wetland degradation: Consequences

• Flooding and storm damage

• Alteration is fisheries production
• Coastal and marine diversity loss
• Induced climate change
• Alteration of hydrology
• Increased or decreased sedimentation, coastal erosion
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Managing wetlands

• Wetland conservation is aimed at protecting and preserving areas where water

exists at or near the Earth’s surface, such as swamps, marshes and bogs.
• Wetlands cover at least 6% of the Earth and have become a focal issue for
conservation due to the ecosystem services they provide. More than three
billion people around half the world’s population, obtain their basic water
needs from inland freshwater wetlands.
• The same number of people rely on rice as their staple food, a crop grown
largely in natural and artificial wetlands. Thus they rely on wetland cultivation
for their livelihoods.
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Managing wetlands

• Fisheries are also an extremely important source of protein and income in

many wetlands. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization, the total catch from the inland waters was 8.7 million metric
tones in 2002.
• In addition to food, wetlands supply fiber, fuel and medicinal plants.
• They also provide valuable ecosystems for birds and other aquatic creatures,
help reduce the damaging impact of floods, control pollution and regulate the
climate.
• From economic importance, to aesthetics. The reasons for conserving wetlands
have become numerous over the past few decades.
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Managing wetlands

• These wetlands are fragile and threatened by multiple stressors.

• A vision for the future is needed to help decide how to deal with invasive
species, competing needs for water, and the future prospect of a changing
climate and potentially diminished water supply.
• This will assist public and private land managers as they are struggling with
the balance between providing critical water bird habitat and producing
nutritious forage for livestock
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Managing wetlands

• From a long time, conservation strategies has been laid down on for the
protection of wetlands
• Law & Legislation
• Conservation programs
• Awareness building

• Wetland management is an attempt to alleviate some or all of the detrimental

effects arising from an authorized destruction of an existing wetland or
functions by creating a new wetland, restoring a former wetland, or enhancing
or preserving another existing wetland
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Managing wetlands

• Unlike coastal wetlands, non-tidal, freshwater wetlands are not much

protected. Yet, freshwater wetlands serve important roles in water quality,
flood control, and wildlife habitat: and damage to freshwater wetlands can
affect salt waters downstream.
• To address these weakness, a Wetlands Conservation Plan is developed for the
coastal area.
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Managing wetlands

• The primary purpose of the plan is to provide detailed information to local,

regional and national governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations and
the public; so they can make better resource management decisions.
• The Wetland Conservation Plan has several components:
• A wetlands inventory
• Functional assessment
• Wetland restoration
• Agency coordination
• Coastal area wetland policies
• Local land-use planning
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Managing wetlands

• Wetlands inventory is the total list of wetlands in the coastal belt of a

particular country or a particular area.
• The functional assessment examines the ecological significance of wetlands.
This assessment is made using a GIS-based landscape analysis of each wetland
in watershed. The analysis evaluates the contribution each wetland has on
water quality, hydrology and wildlife habitat, and the risk to the watershed
integrity
 CRM 2042|Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Managing wetlands

• Wetland restoration, agency coordination, coastal area wetland policies and

land-use planning all are means by which the wetlands maps and functional
assessment will be used to improve wetland protection and management
• The results of the functional assessment will provide additional information
about the ecological significance of wetlands in each coastal country. This
information will help regulatory agencies determine the importance of
protecting a particular wetland site in the event a fill permit is requested.
• It will also enable development projects to be planned so as to avoid, at all
reasonable cost, the most ecologically important wetlands.
 CRM 2042_Ecology and Management of Coastal Wetlands

Brain storming 7:
Explain how wetland degradation will impact
humans?