Why Our Wetlands Matter
“Canadians need wetlands now, more than ever…[Wetlands] are the Swiss Army knife of ecosystems… We can’t afford to lose them. The best use of wetlands is to have them remain as wetlands.”
– Dan Kraus. Marking 50 years of wetland conservation and loss. Hamilton Spectator, February 2, 2021 on 50th Anniversary of Ramsar Convention.
Our Goulbourn Wetland Complex, as with all wetlands, provides critical ecosystem functions such as water quality improvement and water purification, flood control/attenuation and drought control, diverse habitats for wildlife, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, erosion reduction and shoreline stabilization, and groundwater recharge and discharge areas.
Fact: Over 20 percent of the province’s species at risk are directly dependent on wetland habitats.
Wetlands are also a source of cultural and spiritual significance to our First Peoples as well as providing opportunities for recreation and tourism.
Our Goulbourn Wetland Complex plays a key role, along with other wetlands, in mitigating impacts of climate change as wetlands naturally absorb and store carbon. Wetlands are some of the largest stores of carbon on the planet due to the high amount of organic soil found within them.
Fact: Organic soils or peatlands cover about 3% of our planet’s land and store approximately 30% of all land-based carbon– twice the amount than all the world’s forests combined.
But when disturbed or warmed, wetlands release the three greenhouse gases (GHCs) that contribute the most to global warming: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O).
When drained they go from being a carbon sink to a carbon source, releasing into the atmosphere centuries of stored carbon.
The loss of an existing wetland means not only the loss of that carbon sink, but also that the carbon stored in that wetland will be released.
Sources:
Lozanski, Jessica. 2021. Wild Stittsville: A Guide to Our Ecosystems and How We Can Re-wild Our Community. Canadian Wildlife Federation. Canadian Conservation Corps Alumni.
Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. Carbon Sequestration in Wetlands
Office of the Auditor General of Ontario. May 16, 2023. The State of the Environment in Ontario
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. 2017. A Wetland Conservation Strategy for Ontario 2017–2030. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Toronto, ON.
Ontario Nature. A Primer on Wetland Offsetting in Ontario. Practices, Policies and Resources
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