On the 2nd of February each year, we celebrate World Wetlands Day to commemorate the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in the city of Ramsar in Iran in 1971.
World Wetlands Day has been an important occasion to raise public awareness of the value of wetlands to our society and importance of the biodiversity of species living within all wetlands. The theme for 2019 is “Wetlands and climate change”.
Wetlands can play an important role in reducing the impacts of climate change. Wetlands store floodwaters and naturally absorb and store carbon in mangroves and seagrasses – in fact twice the amount stored in the world’s forests combined.
In 1982, Western Port Bay was designated as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance that provides the habitat for over 1300 individual species of marine life, and numerous bird species, including several migratory and endangered species such as the Eastern Curlew and Fairy Tern.
In 2002, UNESCO declared the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve to conserve local ecosystems and species, to foster ecologically sustainable economic and human development and to support research and education related to conservation and development.
So on Saturday 2nd February 2019, visit our unique Western Port Bay and support our local environment!
More Ramsar information is available at www.worldwetlandsday.org
