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
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