Pros and cons of living near wetlands
This article is also available here in Spanish.

Pros and cons of living near wetlands

My list

Author | Lucía Burbano

For thousands of years, ancient civilizations have lived in river valleys formed by wetlands, swamps and marshes. And our ancestors did not choose these areas just by chance, since these coastal ecosystems are an essential source of water and various crops including rice (the most consumed cereal in the world with over 500 million tons  consumed in 2021), as well as being a major cradle for biological diversity with vast species of animals and plants.

The environmental importance of wetlands

And not just that. Wetlands are one of the ecosystems that help absorb and store carbon dioxide to prevent it from being released into the atmosphere, which is known as blue carbon. They also supply drinking water. This is a well-known fact in Chennai, where the Pallikaranai wetland is located, one of the few surviving natural wetlands in South India.

Despite having this natural resource, the city’s lack of water is an endemic problem. In 2019, Chennai’s four reservoirs, with a capacity of 319 Mm3, were at 0.32% of their capacity. As a result, the government has to transport water from one end of the country to the other in trucks, with the resulting pollution caused by this activity.

To protect what little is left of the wetland ecosystems and to supply the population with drinking water, Chennai has taken matters into its own hands and invited ideas to be submitted that enable this natural resource to be managed in a more efficient and sustainable way.

Benefits of living near a wetland

wetlands 3

Source of tourism

Approximately 35% of the world’s wetlands included in the Ramsar list form a prominent part of the tourism activity and attract thousands of visitors.

Some examples are the Karst underground wetlands of the Škocjan Caves in Slovenia, which receive around 100,000 visitors each year, and the Abrolhos Park in Brazil, which has established a limit of 225 visitors per day and only authorized vessels can access the area to observe marine turtles, corals, birds and humpback whales.

They function as a protective barrier

Wetlands function as natural sponges that protect the population from river swells. They act as climate regulators, they purify water and store carbon dioxide, regulating climate change.

Agriculture and aquaculture

Residents in wetland areas also benefit from both farming activities. In terms of aquaculture, this includes the cultivation of crustaceans, fish and mollusks, algae and other aquatic plants. Wetlands are great allies of agriculture, since they collaborate in getting flood water to recede on alluvial plains, rice fields and coastal wet grasslands and provide fertile soils and water.

Disadvantages of living near a wetland

wetlands 4

Fragile communities

Building on wetlands or on water in general, involves certain risks, since the land is not as stable as firm plots of land. If villages are not built with sufficient knowledge, there is a risk of the houses absorbing the humidity in the soil, or even worse, properties being damaged as a result of flooding.

Methane gas, as powerful or worse than CO2

Methane, a greenhouse gas that is as bad as CO2, although its decomposition time is shorter (12 years compared with 120 for CO2) occurs naturally on wetlands such as swamps and rice fields.

As we have seen, the conditions of wetlands favor the accumulation of carbon in the soil, helping to mitigate global warming. However, their characteristics favor the emission of methane, which is twenty times more powerful than CO2 in terms of warming the Earth. To reduce global warming, the emission of methane must be controlled and mitigated.

Photos | Easton Mok, Tyler Butler, USGS

Related content

Recommended profiles for you

SD
Sreehari D n
Indutch networks
Working on a urban commercial project ,eco based concept. N want to set up a urban fusion village
TR
thomas Reukauf
habbel UG
Senior Project Manager Smart City \\nProject development\\nFunding management\\n\\n
DG
Diego Gonzalez
Beyond energy
Ceo
ZK
Zeeshan Khan
Beyond Smart Group
CEO
LV
Lily Villegas
Freelance
Anonymous
CF
Carlos Franco
AGM Desarrollos.com
Executive Director
DN
Diego Naranjo
Universidad Industrial de Santander
STUDENT
ML
Matheus Lage
CML Energy
CEO
SS
Sadhvi Sankaranarayanan
VTU
Student
MN
Mehdi Nafkha
UNIVERSITE COTE D AZUR COMPOSANTE IMREDD
Student
ZZ
Zainul Abidin Zainul
KurikKurikCrew
Senior programmer
FA
Franco Acosta
JVF GROUP
Director of Marketing and sales
LB
Letizia Benvenuti
Accenture
Robot Process Automation analyst and developer
BB
Bingqin Shan Bingqin Shan
Forest City Studio
Senior
MU
maria Clara Urbani
Dow
Marketing Manager EMEAI Water treatment Dow
CS
Craig Semple
Excell Battery Company
Regional Manager - Western Canada
HA
Halimi Ahmadhalimi
Komunikasi
Always
AG
Alba Gubert Celma
Pacte Industrial de la RMB
Project manager
AA
Akshay Atreja
Ministry of Housing and urban affairs
India Smart City Fellow 2019-2020
FC
fischer caroline
ENGIE
ENGIE Digital head of Go to Market