AS part of activities celebrating World Wetlands Day (WWD), Minister of the Environment Kenred Dorsett and personnel of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) visited Bonefish Pond.

Dorsett said the United Nations had named 2014 the International Year of Family Farming. For World Wetlands Day, the Ramsar Convention has chosen the theme ‘Wetlands and Agriculture, Partners of Growth.’

This is because wetlands provide reliable sources of waters and fertile soils for agriculture.

Therefore it is important that there is sustainable management of wetlands.

Minister Dorsett said countries began to notice wetlands were disappearing at a rapid rate, which led to declining fresh water, fisheries and water fowl populations and increasing flood episodes.

He said that appreciating the value of this ecosystem and the need to protect and preserve it, an intergovernmental treaty called the ‘Ramsar Convention on Wetlands’ was adopted on February 2, 1971.

“The Bahamas signed the Ramsar Convention on June 7, 1997, after adding Lake Rosa, home of 50,000 West Indian flamingoes at the Inagua National Park, as a Ramsar site of International Importance for the Bahamas,” said Minister Dorsett.

He added that the Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology (BEST) Commission implements the obligations under the Ramsar Convention through the National Wetlands Committee.

This agreement provided the framework for countries to collaborate internationally on the conservation of wetlands and to determine on a national level what it considered to be the wise use of this ecosystem with its resources.

Over 168 contracting countries are presently party to the Convention with some 2,177 areas listed as Wetlands of International Importance.