📰 Wetland News - June 9, 2024

Your latest briefing on wetland and water issues.

Wetland round-up

- Keep up-to-date with the latest wetland and water related news, research and jobs. If you’d like to receive regular updates on all things wetland, please subscribe to this newsletter.

🧾 Wetland news

• Ban peat sales and back beavers as part of policies for nature, parties urged

  As we approach the General Election in the UK, conservationists are urging political parties to deliver on “overdue” policies such as banning sales of horticultural peat and allowing the reintroduction of beavers into the wild. The call comes after polling shows the majority of people believe all the main political parties are falling short on addressing the wildlife and climate crises, and cleaning up river pollution. It’s great to see politicians being urged to take seriously the importance of wetlands in the UK. Let’s hope the party that makes-up the new government will support the need for better wetland management in the country.

• Fires in Brazil wetlands surge 980% as drought looms

  Wildfires in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands so far this year have surged nearly tenfold compared to 2023. The figures have raised alarm as the peak wildfire season approaches. It’s thought that weak rains since late last year have disrupted seasonal flooding, making the region more vulnerable to fires.

• India names two new Wetlands of International Importance on World Environment Day

  India has marked World Environment Day by designating Nagi Bird Sanctuary and Nakti Bird Sanctuary as its newest wetlands of international importance.

  These Ramsar Sites are both man-made reservoirs situated in the Jhajha forest range of Jamui District in Bihar, India. Always great to see countries around the world taking action to protect and enhance our wetland habitats.

• Thousands of nature activities completed by primary school children at wetland centre

  Over 6,000 nature activities have been completed by children, who traditionally have fewer opportunities to make meaningful connections with nature, at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s Llanelli Wetland Centre, in South Wales, UK. What a brilliant achievement!

• Restoring Scotland’s peatlands is not being taken seriously enough

  This article is well worth a read as it discusses growing concerns that large corporations are not recognising peatland restoration in Scotland as a legitimate means of offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. It is claimed that this is holding back the flow of private finance.

🧪 Wetland research

• The Importance of Wetland Science for the Success of the D-Day Landings

  Hopefully you’ll forgive this personal plug of a recent paper of mine. I’m rather obsessed by wetlands and I also have a real interest in World War Two. It was therefore an absolute pleasure to be able to combine the two topics for this research paper.

  Following a family holiday to Normandy where I collected some substrate samples from all the D-Day landing beaches (because who doesn’t collect soil samples from everywhere they go?) I did some research and found out about a select group of commandos who swam to the proposed landing beaches in the months before the D-Day landings to collect their own substrate samples. They were looking to see of the beaches could support the weight of the invading men and machinery. Fascinatingly, a reason why they were doing this was because the Allies were concerned there were peat deposits under the beaches. It’s said the reason they suspected this was because of aerial photographs and a map they had dating back to the Roman era (!). The more you look into the story the more amazing it gets, but for me the fact that an understanding of wetland science contributed to the planning and ultimate success of D-Day is incredible.

  Alongside this paper we made a BBC Radio 4 documentary called “The Beaches”, and wrote a piece for The Conversation.

💻 Wetland links

• Retrofit SuDS map
  On this map you can view locations of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) across London.

• Mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain in England: Technical Guide
  A simple ‘how to’ guide on England’s first phase of mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), produced by: CIEEM, IEMA and CIRIA

💰 Wetland jobs

• Water Manager: Flood and Water Management Team | Kent County Council

• Ecologist - Species Survival Fund: 'Bogs and Bitterns' | Somerset Wildlife Trust

• Project Officer: Landscape Recovery North Norfolk | Norfolk Rivers Trust

Get in-touch 📢

If you’d like to get in-touch please follow Dr Christian Dunn on Twitter/X (@christiandunn) or Instagram (@drchristiandunn), or email c.dunn@bangor.ac.uk.

If you have an image, news item, research item, or job you’d like to share in this newsletter, please get in-touch.

Pantanal wetland system