Upstream-Downstream: Wetlands connect us all
The theme for this year's World Wetlands Day is: "Upstream-Downstream: Wetlands connect us all". This will be internationally and nationally celebrated on February 2nd, 2008.
Fiji became a signatory to the Convention on Wetlands (the RAMSAR Convention) on 11th August 2006. We have one Ramsar site: a site that has been designated as a Wetland of International Importance: The Upper Navua Conservation Area, located in the Serua province, within the Upper Navua Gorge.
Under the Ramsar Convention, wetlands have a very broad definition.
For Fiji, wetlands would include everything from seagrass and coral communities, intertidal mangrove and saltmarsh, communities, and freshwater swamps and lakes as wetlands. Ramsar also recognises a range of purpose built wetlands such as impoundments like the Monasavu and Vaturu dams.
As a member of the Ramsar Convention, it is our duty as a nation to care for, protect and monitor our wetlands.
Recent research have revealed high endemism and important ecological roles that Fiji's wetlands have. Unwise use of our wetlands can cause high incidences of flooding, extinction of endemic species, skin diseases, and the disappearance of our coral reefs.
Exciting facts about our wetlands and updates on what we can do as a school, community, village, family or as an individual to contribute to saving our wetlands will be posted on the NatureFiji-MareqetiViti website in the coming weeks.
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