{"id":14746,"date":"2022-02-02T13:01:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T13:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=14746"},"modified":"2022-02-02T13:01:34","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T13:01:34","slug":"world-wetlands-day-a-reminder-not-to-let-wetland-protection-fall-by-the-wayside-greens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2022\/02\/02\/world-wetlands-day-a-reminder-not-to-let-wetland-protection-fall-by-the-wayside-greens\/","title":{"rendered":"World Wetlands Day a reminder not to let wetland protection fall by the wayside: Greens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wetlands are some of the largest carbon reservoirs on earth, storing more than one-third of the world\u2019s terrestrial carbon. In the last 50 years, where data is available, inland and coastal wetlands have\u00a0declined by around 35 per cent<\/a>\u00a0worldwide, three times the rate for forests.
\nAs a Contracting Party to the Ramsar Convention,\u00a0Australia made a commitment<\/a>\u00a0to designate suitable wetlands for inclusion on the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.
\nYet there have been only five new\u00a0Australian additions to this list<\/a>\u00a0for the past decade, making Australia a laggard in comparison to other countries. Remarkably, Tasmania has\u00a0not had a site listed\u00a0for 40 years and is the only state in Australia without a Ramsar listing nomination since the 2000s.
\nRamsar site nominations can be initiated by the Australian, state and territory governments, non-government organisations, community entities, trusts, Traditional Owners, individuals, private landowners, or a company. However, the cost of preparing a Ramsar submission can be upwards of $100,000.
\nThis World Wetlands Day the Greens call on the state and federal governments – and all political candidates – to subsidise financial barriers to submitting Ramsar nominations by non-government entities. This is an investment in recognising and celebrating our natural heritage now and for future generations.
\nGreens Senator for Tasmania, Peter Whish-Wilson said:\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u201cAustralia is an international laggard when it comes to\u00a0Ramsar listing our magnificent wetlands. It is a missed opportunity that states like Tasmania have not listed sites for 40 years now while other parts of the world are celebrating their wetlands with international recognition.
\n\u201cThe Australian Government\u2019s own Directory for Important Wetlands lists 89 sites across Tasmania that meet some Ramsar eligibility criteria, with the Robbins Passage-Boullanger Bay wetlands complex meeting almost every single criterion.
\n\u201cNearly 20 years ago the Federal Government tried to nominate Robbins Passage-Boullanger Bay as a Ramsar site because of its significance as one of the Southern Hemisphere’s most critical shorebird breeding habitats – including for many globally endangered and protected species.
\n\u201cProposed nominations on state or private land require support from the relevant state government and unfortunately in this case the short-sighted Tasmanian State Government killed the Robbins Passage-Boullanger Bay nomination on behalf of a few local vested interests.
\n\u201cIf our governments are going to stop throwing their energy behind nominating wetlands for Ramsar listing, they should at least make it viable for the public to pick up the slack.
\n\u201cAs a starting point, the Greens are calling on all sides of politics to commit funds to progressing priority Ramsar wetland nominations.
\n\u201cIn doing so we support the theme of the World Wetlands Day this year which calls for \u2018wetlands action for people and nature\u2019, highlighting the importance of actions to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands for human and planetary health.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s never been a more important time to protect the outstanding wetlands we have before inappropriate development and climate change destroy what makes them so unique.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wetlands are some of the largest carbon reservoirs on earth, storing more than one-third of the world\u2019s terrestrial carbon. In the last 50 years, where data is available, inland and coastal wetlands have\u00a0declined by around 35 per cent\u00a0worldwide, three times the rate for forests. As a Contracting Party to the Ramsar Convention,\u00a0Australia made a commitment\u00a0to … Continue reading “World Wetlands Day a reminder not to let wetland protection fall by the wayside: Greens”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}