What is a wetland?
ACCORDING TO the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, “wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.”
Simply put, a wetland is an area of land that is flooded for parts of the year or throughout the entire year. They are a transition between dry land areas and deeper water areas and as such, have plants and soils that are adapted to this ‘wet and dry’ environment. Wetlands occur in shallow basins, depressions, and along the shallow edges of many streams, deeper ponds, and lakes.
What makes up a wetland?
In general, wetlands have three parts. The first is uplands, which are the dry land surrounding a wetland. Upland areas can have trees, grasses and many other types of vegetation in them.
The second part of a wetland is the riparian zone. This is a strip of land and vegetation between the higher uplands and the shallower, wet areas of a wetland. Riparian areas are heavily vegetated with trees, grasses, brush and other types of plants.
The third part of a wetland is the aquatic area. This is the wet area of the wetland. The aquatic area can be deep, with lots of open water, or it can be very shallow, with no open water at all.

How does a wetland ‘work’?
Wetlands can be thought of as giant sponges. They absorb water from many different sources during wet periods, and they release it slowly into the surrounding areas during dry periods. In this way, wetlands can help to reduce flooding, ease the impact of drought and recharge groundwater supplies.
Wetlands also act as filters since water flowing into a wetland from higher ground must move through the upland and riparian areas. The plants and soils there absorb chemicals, nutrients, sediments and other impurities from the water as it passes through. In fact, research has shown that up to 92 per cent of phosphorus and 95 per cent of nitrogen draining from the surrounding watershed can be removed from water passing through a wetland!
Another way in which wetlands filter water is by trapping and absorbing harmful bacteria. Because wetlands are full of life, they are home to a very complex food chain. At the bottom of the food chain are the various microbes and bacteria, which invertebrates, such as insects, feed on. That is why wetlands can filter up to 90 percent of bacteria in the water.
Due to these properties, wetlands are important to various countries around the world. In Australia, wetlands provide important refuge for wildlife – thousands of migratory water-birds that breed in countries such as China and Siberia inhabit Australian wetlands each year. Also, wetlands in Australia are a vital habitat for some species of threatened animals and they also provide breeding grounds for fish, and other wildlife.
They are naturally beautiful places and provide opportunities for- recreational activities such as boating, swimming, bushwalking and bird watching. They also provide a natural water balance and help to provide protection against floods. Many wetlands are of cultural significance to aboriginal people (the indigenous group of Australia).
Over the years, wetlands in Australia have been lost through drainage, grazing, sand mining and peat extraction. This has created an environment which is less capable of trapping and filtering water. As such, various pollutants have reduced the quality of coastal waters. This reduced quality highlights the importance of wetlands. Therefore, there have been a number of constructed wetlands established in areas such as the Adelaide metropolitan area. These wetlands remove pollutants such as nutrients and suspended solids from water.
In Jamaica, wetlands are very important resources which can and do contribute to the Gross National Product (GNP). They provide employment for Jamaican residents in the form of tour guides, fishermen, shrimp catchers and sellers as well as craft people. Researchers from the University of the West Indies (UWI) at Mona found that there is medicinal value in the plants and animals found in Jamaica’s wetlands. Only recently, a new species of edible oyster was found and new species of plants and animals are being discovered “almost every day”. This shows that, well managed, wetlands can become very valuable sources of income.
Additionally, the Palisadoes Tombolo and the surrounding waters, cays and reefs represent one of Jamaica’s most valuable ecosystems. Its mangrove forests shelter boats during hurricanes, provide a natural water -filtration system and function as nesting sites for seabirds and nurseries for marine life. The cays, reefs and beaches are important for recreation and scientific research, and are home to several rare and endemic plant species.
In Guyana, the North Rupununi wetland is the largest in the country covering 22,000 hectares of flooded savannah and forest. The North Rupununi wetland is dominated by the Rupununi, Rewa and Essequibo Rivers and includes over 750 lakes, ponds and water inlets. More than 400 species of fish, the highest diversity of fishes in the world for areas of similar size, is found in the Rupununi wetlands. This area is also home to some of the world’s endangered giants – the Arapaima(largest fresh water fish), the giant river otter ( largest of the 13 otter species), the black caiman (world’s largest of subfamily Alligatorinae), Giant river turtles, the harpy eagle ( largest bird of prey), the jaguar (largest cat in South America) and hundreds of other flora and fauna.
The Rupununi wetlands play a very important role in the lives of more than 5000 indigenous people of Guyana. The rivers and waterways found in the wetlands act as a source of drinking water and a main transportation route for the people living in the Rupununi.
The vegetation found in the wetlands are used by our indigenous tribes to make craft, traditional medicine, houses and sometimes food.

Wetland Word Challenge!
Find all the words in the word search and discover a secret message in the remaining words.
Circle the letters of the words when you find them in the word search and cross off the word from the word list to make it easier for you. Look carefully as the words go in all directions.

Fill in the blanks with the remaining letters. Go in order beginning in the top left hand corner.
Secret Message: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___       ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___       ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___.

You can share ideas and questions by sending your letters to: ‘Our Earth, Our Environment’, C/o EIT Division, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email eit.epaguyana@gmail.com