Slimbridge turns 80: wetlands as allies of the climate
· BehindLines newsroom
The first waterbird reserve of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) is celebrating its 80th anniversary at Slimbridge, in Gloucestershire. According to the BBC, the charity is using the occasion to call for the restoration of a million hectares of wetland around the globe.
A naturalist, swans and geese
In November 1946 the naturalist Peter Scott settled on the banks of the Severn, drawn by thousands of swans and geese that came to spend the winter on the mudflats. He dug lakes, built observation hides and founded what the WWT website presents as the birthplace of modern conservation. According to the BBC, Scott also campaigned against commercial whaling, presented some of the broadcaster's first nature programmes and helped create the WWF. In 1973 he became the first person knighted for conservation work.
Birds saved in captivity
Among his projects, the BBC mentions that of the Hawaiian goose, or nēné: only about 24 remained in 1949. The first chicks, hand-reared at Slimbridge, helped relaunch the species, which now numbers more than 3,000 birds. The team has also reared the common crane and the Madagascan pochard, the rarest diving duck in the world. To save the latter, chief executive Sarah Fowler recounts, its habitat had to be restored together with local communities in Madagascar.
Carbon sinks
According to the WWT, quoted by the BBC, saltmarshes, mangroves and other wetlands take up carbon at four times the speed of trees. According to the BBC, scientists estimate that 85% of the planet's wetlands have disappeared, drained for farming or built over as cities grew; Sarah Fowler adds that 40% of the world's species depend on them. It now runs 10 reserves in the United Kingdom and, on its website, sets itself the goal of creating or restoring 100,000 hectares of wetland in the country. It names a programme lasting five years that returns wetlands to towns and cities and a ten-year saltmarsh restoration project. In Bristol, small floating islands of wetland plants are moored in the harbour.
Why it matters
These figures come from the charity and the BBC, and have not been independently checked here. They do recall the role the charity attributes to wetlands: habitats useful at once to birds, to water and to carbon storage.