Photo: IWC on Karakol Lake, Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan
Today, on February 2, the international community celebrates the World Wetlands Day.
It marks the day when the "Convention on Wetlands" was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar back in 1971. The Convention was signed in order to protect wetlands of national and global importance that are in urge of degradation.
World Wetlands Day helps to raise the awareness of the vital role of wetlands for the biodiversity preservation, water quality improvement, flood protection and more.
At present, 172 states are parties to this convention, on the territory of which there are 2,471 wetlands of international importance covering over 256 million ha..
Photo: Wetlands of Central Asia, Eldar Rustamov