Wetlands are ecosystems in which water is the primary factor controlling the environment and associated plant and animal life. A broad definition of wetlands includes freshwater, marine, and coastal ecosystems, such as lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands, peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas and salt marshes, mangroves and other coastal areas, coral reefs, and all human-made ecosystems, such as fishponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and salt marshes.
They represent one of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth, indispensable to humans and nature for the benefits and services they provide. Although they only cover about 6% of the Earth's surface, they are home to 40% of all plant and animal species.
Su diversidad biológica es crucial para la salud humana, el suministro de alimentos, el transporte y las actividades económicas que generan empleo, como la pesca y el turismo. Más de 1000 millones de personas (una octava parte de la población terrestre) que viven en zonas rurales y urbanas de todo el mundo dependen de los humedales como medio de subsistencia.
Wetlands are a natural solution to climate change. Peatlands, mangroves, and seagrass meadows are the most efficient carbon sinks on Earth, capturing and storing twice as much carbon as all the world's forests combined.
However, when they are drained and destroyed, they release large amounts of carbon. Wetlands also protect us from natural disasters. As sea levels rise, coastal wetlands reduce the impact of hurricanes and tsunamis, anchor the shoreline, and resist erosion.
At Bepensa, we're joining the fight against climate change through mangrove and wetlands cleanup campaigns along the Yucatán coast, as well as waste recovery programs in cenotes and other bodies of water on the peninsula through the Bepensa Foundation.
Wetlands are vital to humans, other ecosystems, and our climate, providing essential ecosystem services such as water regulation, including flood control, and water purification.
