By David Quiles

When people hear about fresh water they may think lakes and rivers; most people do not consider marshlands even though that is one source of fresh water. Marshlands are an important part of our ecosystem and they help ensure plants and animals have a home to live or to pass as they migrate. Many birds, reptiles and other creatures live in marshlands and it is because of this that we have a food chain. When the marshes go, everything goes with them; in some regions even commercial/human activity. This article will inform about three different locations in the world pertaining to marshlands, their removal, and the effects of what happened during/after they were destroyed. Marshlands are hard to get back and take lots of time to re-grow.

            Let’s have an understanding of what wetlands are all about. To understand what we are talking about and how important these are we need to learn more about them. Wetlands can filter fresh water for our aquifers and replenish what we do not use.[1]  Wetlands do more than just filter water, they store carbon gases as well.[2] These wetlands also help reduce flooding, and reduce erosion.[3]  About sixty percent of the wetlands in the world have been destroyed for development in housing or agriculture.[4]

There are some wetlands that have been destroyed for political reasons as well but mostly it’s been for human development. In West Africa, for example, demand for rice has led some marshlands there to be converted for rice patties.[5]  in 1971, a consortium of nations joined to address the issue of marshland disappearance under the the Ramsar Convention. At the signing of the treaty there were 18 nations. Today there is a huge list of countries that joined up and are a part of the convention, among them is the United States of America.[6]

Disappearing wetlands – the Florida Everglades

The first region we will explore on the map is right in our own backyard (unless you’re not in America). The everglades in America contained lots of marshland at one point which back in the day made it hard for people to settle down and develop the land. Imagine if you will 11,000 square miles of marsh lands.[7]

The everglades were at risk since the early 1900’s and attempts were made to drain the marshes for development; the drainage was successful in 1948 by the “Central and South Florida Project”.[8] This project was to channel water out of the everglades and into the ocean. By doing this they damaged the ecosystem. Animals and plants died off or stopped migrating here as well as plants and animals native to other regions started to inhabit the lands. Since this destruction there is about 5,500 square miles left.[9]

Currently Florida is working on restoration efforts for the Everglades while keeping up with water supply to Florida’s population growth and flood control. One of the first examples of drainage for the Everglades was actually in 1923, when one man by the name of Barron G. Collier decided he wanted to build a town in the swamp land.[10] There was less than a hundred acres though and so he created lake placid and piled land into the swamp forcing the water to go into the lake instead of over the land.[11]

The i mage is of the Everglades today; it is a National Park now. This link: http://farmerkingucf2010.wikispaces.com/The+Everglades  is showing an illustrated view of how the everglades were before and after being drained.

 

Disappearing wetlands – the Braqzilian Pantanal

Now we will travel to South America, more specifically Brazil. Brazil is known for its rain forests but yes it also contains marshland. Brazil has a place known as Pantanal.

The Pantanal is in western Brazil and is the biggest wetland in the world.[12] The ecosystem in this region acts according to the seasons.[13] The way it works is that from November to March the region retains so much water that seventy eight percent of the regions have up to five meters of water. There are animals that use this water to lay eggs and produce offspring also it allows the soil to become a certain way that helps boost success rate of hatched eggs.[14] There are over 5,000 different species of plants and animals that live in the Pantanal that make up this ecosystem.[15]

One of the things that are destroying the region right now is development for mining and farmland. In one article from 2008, there is a steel mill, in Corumba, that is making pig iron from getting the charcoal from government protected lands.[16] They were using a loop hole where they can develop land that is legally in litigation, in other words the people that bought the land are still living on it. This land in the Pantanal is being thrown to the court systems to protect it, yet until a ruling development can happen.[17]

 I searched for more information related to this and came up with another source mentioning the same story but with more information. The company is MMX which has been in production of steel since 2007.[18] In the same article one expert mentions how the wildlife is in danger because of development projects for agriculture and the possible joining of two rivers, the Paraguay and Parana rivers. For those of you unfamiliar with the location of this marshland you can see below where it lies inside of Brazil. This also touches two other countries, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

 

Disappearing wetlands – Mesopotamia and the legacy of Saddam Hussein

The last region to explore and by no means the last one in the world is Mesopotamia. Here are the Iran/Iraqi marshlands. These marshes were drained by a political leader, Saddam Hussein, to weed out militants aimed at taking over his regime.

Below are two satellite images, the first one is from 1973 and it shows how massive the marshlands were. The second image is from 2000 and it shows how much of the marshlands were destroyed after the drainage. This had ecological as well as commercial consequences. One example was found by data collected that there are diseases such as diarrhea and cholera.[19] This was due as a direct result of no fresh water from the drainage of the marshes.

There currently is a restoration of the marshes being undertaken with help from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). According to a report published by the USAID, there have been removals of dams and dikes in an unplanned way that has made restoration difficult. These dams and dikes were built to redirect the water flow from reaching the marshlands. They have recently been able to recover a lot of marshlands but most of it is still under development. The report explains that regions of the marshlands have become dead lakes because of salinity in the soil and water. Aside from giving the militants a place to hide Saddam Hussein also diverted the water for irrigation purposes as well.

The report also mentions over half a million dollars in funds to help restore water flow and conditions in the marsh land regions. Before the natives to the marshes would fish and farm and that is exactly what they are doing now when they move back. While most of them remain refugees a few have moved back near the parts that have been restored. Aside from agricultural work being done in the region to help restore it, there is also the fishing part that has to be done. To accomplish this they will put bunni fish in the waters through brood stock that was spawned artificially.[20] 

According to the report, one problem that may arise from restoring the marshlands is the oil field below it. Water diversion and oil drilling are causes of why the marshes were drained as well.[21] If the world decided to cease using fossil fuels and adopted better farming practices then that could lead to a more successful restoration of the marshes. I say this based on opinion mainly because there is always more than one reason to destroy the marshes; and as long as we have these dependencies, the marshes are never safe even after restoration. There is another article I found that mentions one known fact, the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers are responsible for bringing water to the marshes in the first place. While Iraq has most control over the Tigris River, the Euphrates comes mostly from Turkey.[22] The Euphrates River has dams built up in Turkey which slows and limits the amount of water that comes down and flows into Iraq.

This raises another question and possibly another problem for plan to restore the marshland. It will take more participation and changes than Iraq alone. One possible solution is to use the same methods in Iraq to restore it as well in Turkey to help improve productivity with limited resources so as to reduce dependency on those River’s water supply.

Disappearing wetlands – what have we learned?

Through these examples we have learned of how different areas around the world have destroyed marsh lands. The importance of these lands is both for survival of animals and plants as well as humans.

The common denominator in all three locations is for human selfishness. In Florida it was to develop land for people to farm and live, in Mesopotamia it was for one man to give his enemies no place to hide and also worked out for agricultural benefits as well, and In Brazil in the Pantanal marshlands the largest in the world it being destroyed to make room for mining and farming. These marshes provide fresh drinking water for humans to live and once destroyed could take decades or centuries to revive if humans are around by then.

One way to prevent further destruction is political pressure and boycotting products from those regions. This has been done with blood diamonds and has been very successful in most countries. There are people out there that care and understand the importance of marshlands/wetlands and are striving to bring them back up to their previous states. The problem is not everywhere can be repaired and everyone has to be on board, yet with human demand for resources that marshland removal offers it makes it unrealistic at the moment that we can protect them and stop development on them.