Water sustains all forms of life—for human needs, crops and livestock, the operation of industries, preservation of natural ecosystems and all forms of wildlife, including migratory waterbirds that feed, nest and drink in wetlands.
Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim, executive director of Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), said: “Despite the myriad of benefits derived from water resources, aquatic ecosystems around the world face severe threats caused by anthropogenic activities exacerbated by climate change.”
The freshwater ecosystem—rivers, lakes, aquifers and wetlands—account for less than 3 percent of the world’s water, an alarming figure that could threaten human survival, natural environment, and wildlife, Lim said in a press statement on World Migratory Bird Day on May 13.
With this year’s theme, “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” she said the ACB joins the global community in amplifying the call for “protecting and conserving the freshwater ecosystems not only for human survival” but also “for biodiversity and the sustenance of wildlife, especially migratory waterbirds that serve as bioindicators of ecosystem health.”
The Asean region’s inland waters and wetlands span a total of about 2 million square kilometres, comprising 60 percent of the world’s tropical peatlands and 42 percent of the global mangrove forests.
“This vast amount of wetland resources and their ecosystem functions are yet to be widely acknowledged as a response to the increasing demand for clean water and as nature-based solutions to the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss,” the ACB leader pointed out.
Lim said well-managed wetlands can help protect the quality and quantity of water needed by all species.
During extreme weather conditions resulting from climate change, inland waters can serve as natural reservoirs as the ecosystems recharge groundwater and provide additional supply of surface water during rainy seasons.
“By absorbing excess nutrients and filtering pollutants, wetlands contribute to halting species extinction by providing healthy habitats for all wildlife to thrive. Mangroves and vegetation in riverbanks serve as shield from flooding and erosion and mitigate their effects to communities on land,” she explained.
She said several programs to rehabilitate forests and wetlands in the region have been conducted by the Asean, in line with the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Through ACB, support to important wetlands and protected areas have been established in terms of capacity development programs, livelihood development and strict enforcement of regulations through one of its flagship programs—the Asean Heritage Parks (AHPs).
Another initiative, the Asean Flyway Network (AFN) was created to enable coordinated conservation actions and international knowledge sharing and cooperation for the protection and conservation of the region’s wetlands and migratory birds, Lim explained.
It helped address knowledge gaps, including the identification of potential flyway sites and wetlands of international importance, or Ramsar sites.
The Asean is also attending to urban wetlands in order to address the challenges of population density and improve the quality of urban waters.
Studies revealed that almost 70 percent of the world’s population will settle in cities and urban areas by 2050. This is expected to put tremendous pressure on wetlands to provide the required demand for clean water, she pointed out.
Among the 55 AHPs, urban wetlands are found to be currently under-represented; and as a response, integration of urban wetlands into the AHP Network through the updating of the AHP Regional Action Plan is now being done by ACB.
Two urban wetlands are now considered as pilot sites for this Action Plan, namely, the Nong Kham Sen Wetland in Lao PDR and Bang Pu Nature Education Centre in Thailand, Lim said.
“The survival of over 50 million migratory waterbirds from over 250 different populations that fly along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway [EAAF] depend on healthy and productive wetlands in the region,” she said.
Hence, a “more inclusive and assertive regional stand is necessary to deal with the global water crisis and safeguard these ecosystems” from which the migratory species depend.
She pointed out that “national governments must implement relevant policies to effectively manage the freshwater sources with a healthy balance of ecosystem protection and economic considerations guided by the principles of sustainable development.”
“The adoption of nature-based solutions in development planning, continuous research on freshwater resources, and developing ecologically-friendly hydrologic technologies are indispensable to fully utilize the benefits that nature can provide,” Lim explained.
All of the mentioned actions and interventions in the region can only be fully realized through cross-border collaboration and flyway-scale conservation, she noted.
Lim pointed out that full cooperation of the Asean member states in the AFN, the EAAF Partnership and linkages with the other major flyways “are needed to amplify our message of migratory bird conservation to the rest of the world,” and “to ensure that specific threats to the Asean freshwater ecosystems are addressed with relevant and holistic action plans with a high chance of successful implementation.”
Image credits: Porchhay Taing