Gren Christie of Wise Water Use explains why wetlands are our mates

Wetlands FIGHT Droughts.

• They can reduce the impacts of flooding, as they absorb heavy rain and release the water gradually.

• Downstream waterflows and groundwater levels are also maintained during periods of low rainfall.

• Wetlands can recharge aquifers naturally in areas like Ngā kōrero o Tamatea (Central Hawkes Bay) on the Ruataniwha plains.

• They also help stabilise shorelines and riverbanks

Wetlands FIGHT Pollution

• As water moves into a wetland, the flow rate decreases, giving time for particles to settle out.

• The many plants that thrive in a wetland act as filters, absorbing solids and adding oxygen to the water.

• Growing plants remove nutrients and play a cleansing role that protects the downstream environment.

Wetlands REDUCE global warming

• By continuously removing and storing atmospheric carbon wetlands reduce global warming.

• Plants take carbon out of the atmosphere and convert it into plant tissue, which die and decompose and ultimately turn into soil.

• Globally, peat wetlands hold twice as much carbon as all the world’s forests.

• A coastal wetland can store carbon up to 57 times faster than a tropical forest.

• Wetlands are a BIODIVERSITY hot bed

• Wetlands provide a major habitat for at least eight species of native fish as well as invertebrates, frogs and birds. They are the main habit for 20% of our native bird species and many plant types.

• This why in the past wetlands were a supermarket for Māori.

• 90% of wetlands in NZ have been lost since colonisation.

An IMPORTANT Wetland in Ngā kōrero o Tamatea is Lake Whatuma

• This lake was lowered in the 1970's against much public opposition.

• It would be Wise Water Use to reverse engineer Whatuma to its pre-1970’s condition using, as in the past, natural water runoff from surrounding land to maintain the lake’s health

WETLANDS FIGHT FOR US !!

This why Wise Water Use advocate for the protection and restoration of wetlands as one of the ways forward to combat water insecurity in Ngā kōrero o Tamatea (Central Hawke's Bay)

A wetland restoration project in Racecourse Road, Waipukurau.

(This area was a bare paddock 20 years ago)

Read the recent Forest and Bird Report on wetlands here. The report finds that we need to double our present wetlands to address climate change.