THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined the rest of the globe in observing World Wetlands Day on February 2.

This year, it was held under the theme: ‘Celebrating cultural heritage through wetlands’.

According to EPA’s Environmental Officer, Ruth Patterson, the 2026 theme highlights the deep connection between wetlands and traditional knowledge, celebrating cultural heritage and Indigenous stewardship.

“Wetlands are shaped by the presence of water with soils that are seasonally or permanently flooded or saturated. They are amongst the most productive ecosystems on Earth, yet also the most threatened. Wetlands include inland systems like rivers, marshes, lakes, and floodplains. They also include coastal ecosystems such as mangroves and estuaries,” she said.

The wetlands, in essence, protect us from floods, support biodiversity, store carbon, and sustain livelihoods.

Underscoring this importance, the EPA team went to the community of Laluni, an Indigenous community within the riverine wetlands of the Mahaica River which has an estimated population of 500. Laluni is rich in agriculture and is a key supplier for key manufacturing companies.

A creek which flows from the Mahaica River, connects the mainland, supporting farming, transportation, leisure, and daily life.

Michael Patterson has been residing in Laluni for the past 42 years. He stated that without the wetland, there would be no production.

“Since it is an agriculture area, the river, it’s played a great role because without that, we wouldn’t be having production and we get in a good flow of water, fresh water, and people use the water a lot to water their plants and to actually live,” he said.

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, can be found in the Rupununi wetland.