JAMAICA WILL join more than a hundred countries worldwide in celebrating World Wetlands Day today.
Students in the Jamaica Environment Trust's (JET) Schools' Environment Programme (SEP) will mount displays on wetlands, take tours of wetlands or investigate the importance of wetlands and the plants and animals that live there.
WETLANDS PRESENTATION
JET will also give a presentation on the value and functions of wetlands, as well as a tour of the Palisadoes/Port Royal wetlands to schools, in conjunction with the Port Royal Marine Lab, as part of the activities coordinated by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA).
Jamaica has two wetlands of international importance that have been designated Ramsar sites. They are the Black River Lower Morass in St. Elizabeth (1998) and Palisadoes/Port Royal in Kingston (2005). Jamaica agreed to preserve these wetlands under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
Jamaica is one of the 150 countries that have become signatories to the convention.
The wetlands provide a nursery for nearly 80 per cent of the country's commercial fishery, filter pollutants from land run-offs before they enter the sea, and offers protection from flooding and hurricanes.
