Water and wetlands

Advice for community groups

  • Water is precious- it is essential for life on earth. Water is a hugely important resource for all living things including people.
  • Waterbodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, canals and ditches) and wetlands (e.g. peatland, marsh, swamp and wet grassland) are invaluable habitats for wildlife. Watery places and wetlands often support multitudes of invertebrates, fish, small mammals and birds.
  • Wetlands also help protect water quality (by acting like filters intercepting any nutrients and pollutants before they enter waterbodies) and many wetlands (particularly those fringing rivers and streams) form buffers against flooding during periods of high rainfall. Wetlands also enhance the water-retaining capacity of catchments during dry spells.
  • Wetlands and watery places are often beautiful places that enhance our landscapes and are nice places to walk, birdwatch or paddle as well as wonderful places to enjoy nature.

We all depend on water and it is essential that we don’t take it for granted. Wetlands have a very important role helping to protect water quality and buffering flood events, as well as, having a high biodiversity value and therefore wetlands must be protected too.

For more information on wetlands, watery places, conserving aquatic habitats and species – 

Water and biodiversity https://www.cbd.int/gbo/gbo4/gbo4-water-en.pdf

Minding our watercourses https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2014/Watercourse_Management.pdf

Protecting water quality and aquatic habitats https://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Environment/environmental-protection.html

Biodiversity and our waterways https://www.waterwaysireland.org/biodiversity-on-irelands-waterways

Waterways for wildlife https://iwt.ie/waterways-for-wildlife/

Invasive species http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/projects/invasive-species/; https://www.fisheriesireland.ie/Invasive-Species/invasive-species.html

Forestry and water quality https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/forestry/publications/water_quality.pdf

 

Working near water- protecting aquatic habitats and water quality
Advice for community groups on how to protect local water bodies and wetlands when working on projects in or near water.
This page was added on 24/05/2020.

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