Wetlands are, simply put, the place where land meets water. They can be coastal or inland.
There are an amazing variety of wetlands - marshes, peat bogs, wet woodlands, floodplains, deltas, mangroves, and coral reefs; they are all wetlands.

Wetlands are one of the biggest carbon sinks in the world, swallowing up three times as much carbon as the world’s forests! A billion people depend on wetlands for hunting, fishing, food, work and shelter. And 40% of the worlds species need freshwater wetlands to survive. Yet they are being drained and levelled at a rate three times faster than forests!

I think we need to urgently protect wetlands. Wetlands should be included in the Sustainable Development Goals. (They aren’t at the moment!) We can't meet the SDG's without wetlands...in fact things will only get worse. Wetlands are essential to help mitigate disasters for coastal communities. They provide a physical barrier to protect against flooding and natural disasters, saving lives and countries millions of pounds every year.

In July a High Level Political Forum will meet to review the SDG's. Wetlands need to be added to the SDGs to help galvanise commitment across the world to protect these valuable habitats before they are destroyed.