Guandu Nature Park in Taipei County will host a series of public seminars this summer to highlight the beauty and ecological importance of wetlands, a park official said yesterday.
Wetlands are like giant sponges that can absorb and store water and regulate river flows to prevent floods or droughts, Guandu Nature Park administrator Lin Yi-tzai (林益在) said.
Aside from reducing the chances of flooding, “wetlands are also important because they are the habitat of a large number of animal and plant species,” Lin said.
Citing the late renowned US ecologist Eugene Odum, who spent much of his professional life researching and promoting wetland conservation, Lin said that wetlands are the Earth's most biologically diverse ecosystems.
“The volume of life wetlands can support is 2.5 to 4 times that of a regular piece of land. If they are well preserved, the biodiversity that they host would also be preserved and the soundness of the world's ecosystem can be maintained,” Lin said.
Constructed wetlands — like the one at Guandu Nature Park — serve an additional function: filtering domestic wastewater before they flow into the river or ocean, Lin said.
“Organic pollutants in wastewater are digested by microorganisms in the wetlands, so water that flows out of a wetland is cleaner,” he said.
The park has invited environmental and cultural groups — including ecologists, documentary directors and researchers — to speak at the “I Have A Date with the Wetlands” seminar series from June 14 through the end of August, Lin said.
“We hope that more people will come to understand why wetland conservation is important to human life, and that more people will get involved with [wetland] conservation afterward,” he said.
Registration for the seminars is available at 02-2858-7417 ext 218, or the park's Web site at www.gd-park.org.tw.
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