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Biodiversity:
38% of freshwater mammals and over
25% of freshwater amphibians are
threatened with extinction. Wetland
plants such as fen violet, fen ragwort
and fen orchid are now found at only
a handful of locations. This is part of
a wider crisis for nature, with 60% of
UK species we know about in long-
term decline. Wetlands cover just
3% of the UK’s land area, but support
10% of our species, so they are a
brilliant way to provide support for
wildlife in a landscape with increasing
competition for space.
Climate change:
Peat wetlands store more carbon
than rainforests, storing a third of
the world’s carbon, despite only
taking up 3% of the world’s surface.
However, 14% of UK upland peat
areas are being eroded, 18% have
been drained, and 27% are regularly
burnt. In the Fens, only around 16%
of the peat stock recorded in 1850
remains and most of what’s left
is “dead”—eroding and oxidising,
not growing and storing carbon.
Restoring wetlands can be a major
component of the UK’s contribution
to climate change mitigation.
Health & wellbeing:
Today, people are more disconnected
from nature than ever before and
poor environmental quality blights
thousands of lives. Lack of access
to green and blue spaces contributes
to stress and physical conditions
like heart disease, while polluted
air causes respiratory disease and
thousands of early deaths every
year. Providing everyone with decent
access to quality natural spaces, such
as urban wetlands, could save £2.1bn
a year in healthcare costs every year.
The Government’s Natural Capital
Committee looked at the economic
case for wetland creation and found
a strong economic case for creating
100,000 hectares of new wetlands.
In some cases, the benefits
outweighed the costs by 9:1.