WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LET MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL WETLANDS DISAPPEAR

We cannot afford to let Mediterranean Coastal Wetlands disappear. New IPCC REPORT Reactive Statement.

“The climate events we are facing today are becoming more and more frequent, extreme and devastating. In the Mediterranean, the consequences are becoming dramatic for many species – natural cycles are being unbalanced, and we are seeing changes in everything from plant growth cycles to the nesting seasons of migrating birds. No one can doubt that the climate crisis has been caused by humanity – but it is not too late, humanity can also fix things with the help of nature. Natural solutions are available, like the sustainable use, conservation and restoration of coastal wetlands. These champion ecosystems have a great capacity to absorb carbon emissions and help our adaptation efforts in a warming world.” Alessio Satta, Secretary, MedWet (The Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative)

Sea-level rise will be one of the major climate change-induced risks of the 21st century for coastal areas. There is still a lot of uncertainty over how the ice sheet may be affected by melting over the next century, but some high-end scenarios are truly alarming. The latest models predict an increase of 1 m in 2100 (scenario without GES reduction) which would lead to the loss of 90% of the world’s coastal wetlands.

With temperatures going up 20% faster than the global average, the Mediterranean basin is one of the hotspots of this global crisis. According to satellite images from the last 35 years, the Mediterranean Sea has been warming almost three times more than most other oceans. The worst projections indicate that sea levels could rise between 1.35 m and 1.92 m in the long term. Moreover, as presented by WGII of IPCC today, coastal flood damage is projected to increase at least 10-fold by the end of the 21st century.

Under this scenario, most coastal wetlands in the Mediterranean will disappear near the end of the 21st century, with dramatic consequences for coastal communities and local economies. Millions of people, more than a third of the Mediterranean population, will face heightened risks of drought, water shortages and coastal flooding.

As the world watched delegates at COP26 in Glasgow struggling to reach agreements to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C, there was one very conspicuous ‘missing ingredient’: wetlands. Wetlands are the world’s most effective carbon sink, yet they continue to be ignored in global climate action plans. This is baffling, in light of clear scientific evidence proving the key role wetlands can play in the fight against climate change.

In the Mediterranean region, wetlands are among the most productive of all ecosystems. They provide critical services for half a billion people, from flood regulation to water supply, from biodiversity reservoirs to tourist attractions. And, most importantly, wetlands buffer us against climate change.

Ironically, they are also the ecosystems most threatened by human activities. Although ecotourism and sustainable tourism are becoming more popular, 27% of the world’s mass tourism takes place in the Mediterranean basin. The vast majority of tourists gather on the Mediterranean coast, and this is severely reducing the resilience of local ecosystems, with coastal wetlands suffering particular damage.

In the Mediterranean, climate change is 20% more intense than the global average; and scientists say that the Mediterranean Basin will be the second most severely impacted region worldwide, after the Arctic (source: MedECC Report). To reverse this trend, the ‘missing ingredient’ in current climate change mitigation strategies can be the hidden solution. There are already a range of success stories in the Mediterranean which show that wetlands can be a game changer in the current crisis, providing nature-based solutions to climate change.

The science says…

Scientists say that the future of our coastal wetlands is at stake due to human activities. According to The Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory, coordinated by Tour du Valat, within the framework of the Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative: MedWet, we’ve destroyed about half of the Mediterranean’s wetlands in the last 50 years, and there are intense pressures on remaining areas, most of which are damaged and degraded.

Projections released by the network of Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change (MedECC) in 2019 confirm that climate change will hit the region harder and faster than most other parts of the world. This will worsen the growing biodiversity crisis, and its negative impacts will also be felt at socio-economic level, leading to poverty and displacement for millions.

Key figures from the MedECC report include:

• Basin-wide, annual mean temperatures are now 1.54°C above the 1860-1890 level for land and sea areas (0.4°C more than the global average change)
• Climate change in the Mediterranean is 20% more intense than the global average
• 43% of the population in the Mediterranean is suffering from water shortages
• In a business-as-usual scenario, the temperature in the Mediterranean is projected to rise by 2.2°C by 2040
• In a business-as-usual scenario, a reduction of 30% of rainfall in spring/summer and and increase of 10-20% of heavy rainfall events outside summer are projected by 2080

 Local success stories

Wetlands come in diverse natural and artificial forms, from rivers and lakes to marshes, ponds and coastal dune systems. In their various forms, wetlands can help protect us from the climate crisis in many different ways.

Wetlands are among the world’s most significant carbon sinks – scientific studies show they currently store up to 40% of the world’s carbon, and do it at a rate 10-20 times greater than temperate or boreal forests.

Wetlands buffer us from extremes of all kinds, including sea level rise and the increasingly frequent and violent storm surges that we’re witnessing today. Further inland, wetlands soak up intense rainfall, guard against flooding, and replenish low flows in times of drought.

Some local success stories in the Mediterranean:

• Oristano, Italy: located in Sardinia, and covers 77km2 of Ramsar sites and 267km2 of Marine Protected Areas. Oristano has been central to Sardinia’s economy and culture for hundreds of years. Today, natural wetland processes still provide clean water for locals and protect them from floods and storm surges, while creating ideal conditions for biodiversity to flourish. Hundreds of bird species – some of them endangered – still nest, feed and winter here.
• Camargue, France: located along the Mediterranean coast of southern France, west of Marseille. It covers 140,000 hectares, comprising agricultural lands and an outstanding diversity of wetlands and coastal ecosystems. It is part of the Natura 2000 network and includes 17 habitats targeted by the European Habitats Directive.
• Ghar el Melh, Tunisia: this unique lagoon of approximately 35 km2 is among Tunisia’s most precious coastal heritage sites. Designated a Wetland of International Importance, it was the first North African and Middle Eastern city to receive Ramsar’s Wetland City Accreditation Award, in recognition of its formal engagement in efforts towards wetland protection and sustainability. However, Ghar El Melh is facing significant threats, due to water abstraction, pollution and uncontrolled tourism development.
• Ulcinj Salina, Montenegro: this saltpan of 15 km2 on the Adriatic is one of the most important areas in Europe for birds to breed, overwinter or rest on migration. More than 250 species of birds have been recorded here. After salt production was halted in 2013, the unique character of the habitat became threatened by fresh water infiltrating the saltpans. Ulcinj Salina has now joined the Ramsar list of wetland areas which range as widely as the Okavango Delta in Botswana and the Pantanal in South America. This will help restore the site to its former state, restarting traditional salt production and developing ecotourism.

Background information: the importance of wetlands in the Mediterranean

Despite the pressures by which they’re threatened, Mediterranean wetlands remain hugely important, and their benefits (known as ‘ecosystem services’) make a vital contribution to people and national economies across the region. Natural and human-made wetlands in the Mediterranean basin cover about 0.15-0.22 million km2, about 1.1-1.5% of the global wetland area. Almost one-quarter (23%) of Mediterranean wetlands are now human-made, including rice fields, reservoirs, saltpans and oases – a much higher percentage than the global average of 12%.

The region’s largest wetland areas are in Egypt, France, Turkey and Algeria, together comprising about two-thirds of the Mediterranean total. Given the arid or semi-arid nature of much of the Mediterranean basin, national wetland coverage is generally small, ranging from over 8% in Tunisia to less than 1% in eight countries, mostly in the Middle East and North Africa.

Nevertheless, all these wetlands are of great importance to livelihoods and biodiversity, as is clearly demonstrated by the Mediterranean Wetlands Outlook report : “Mediterranean Wetlands Outlook 2 : Solutions for Sustainable Mediterranean Wetlands”. People directly harvest wetland-dependent plants and animals through fishing and hunting for food, and use wetlands for grazing animals. Wetlands in increasingly dry regions such as this one are particularly crucial for the sustainable management of water resources, in terms of both quality and quantity. They help to provide and purify the water upon which Mediterranean societies depend, for drinking, for industry and energy production, as well as for irrigated agriculture.

Mediterranean wetlands, particularly coastal wetlands, are important in the fight against climate change, mitigating extreme weather events through buffering floods and coastal storm-surges, and providing water in droughts. Conversely, draining wetlands or reducing their water resources can result in the release of large amounts of stored carbon.

The diverse benefits delivered by wetlands are of huge economic value. Inland and coastal natural wetlands provide a major contribution to this value, estimated to be at least US$ 51 trillion per year globally. Much of the value of wetlands lies in their delivery of multiple water-related benefits – managing water quantity and quality and buffering extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and coastal storm surges. But conversion of natural ecosystems, including wetlands, to other land-uses is reducing the value of the benefits they provide, at a global rate of US$4.3–20.2 trillion per year.

The Wetland-Based Solutions project is working for a more effective conservation of these crucial ecosystems. Through the protection and restoration of key wetland areas, the project aims to ensure coastal wetlands can be key assets in nature-based solutions to counteract anthropogenic impacts – and in particular, climate change.

Wetland-Based Solutions is a collaboration between 30 expert wetland partners from 10 countries, with the funding and support of the MAVA Foundation. They have come together in a ground-breaking initiative to save, restore and manage wetlands in coastal regions –where one-third of the Mediterranean population live – as outstanding nature-based solutions for people and planet alike.