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Home News Celebrate World Wetlands Day on 2 February 2024 with events around Ireland and educational videos

Celebrate World Wetlands Day on 2 February 2024 with events around Ireland and educational videos

World Wetlands Day is an annual event promoting the wonder of wetlands and helping highlight global, national and local efforts to raise awareness about wetlands.

Nearly 90% of the world’s wetlands have been degraded since the 1700s, and globally we are losing wetlands three times faster than forests. Yet, wetlands are critically important ecosystems that contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, freshwater availability, world economies and more. World Wetlands Day is the ideal time to increase people’s understanding of these critically important ecosystems.

World Wetlands Day is an urgent call to act. It is an appeal to save the world’s wetlands from disappearing altogether — and to restore those we have already lost.

The theme of World Wetland’s Day in 2024 is “Wetlands and Human Wellbeing” and educational resources are freely available at www.worldwetlandsday.org

Events around Ireland

Some events to celebrate World Wetlands Day are being held around the country and you can find details here: www.irishwetlands.ie/events/

The Blue Dots of Connemara

To mark World Wetlands Day in February 2024, Galway County Council and LAWPRO will be launching our new bi-lingual booklets on the Blue Dots of Connemara with the Cathaoirleach Liam Carroll on the 2nd February at Scoil na bhForbacha.

RTÉ’s Home School Hub’s Múinteoir John Sharpson will be delivering a special lesson to the students of the school highlighting why the waterbodies and wetlands of Connemara’s Blue Dot’s are so special and what the students can do to protect them.

Copies of the booklets are available online here Connemara-Blue-Dots-ENG.pdf (streamscapes.ie and in Irish here Connemara-Blue-Dots-IRE.pdf (streamscapes.ie) and have also been distributed to the local Galway Public Library branches in Connemara for World Wetlands Day.

For more information contact or to order your free copy of the Connemara Blue Dot booklet, email: biodiversity@galwaycoco.ie

To see Connemara’s beautiful Blue Dots and learn more about them, watch this specially commissioned video made by LAWPRO and Galway County Council.

Situated on Ireland’s west coast Connemara has long hosted some of our cleanest and most sensitive rivers, lakes and estuaries. These are the Connemara Blue Dots.

The Irish Wetlands Video Series

To celebrate World Wetlands Day 2021 and 50 years since the signing of the Ramsar Convention to protect wetlands globally, the Irish Ramsar Wetlands Committee (IRWC) launched a series videos showing the wonder of wetlands. These videos were produced by the IRWC with support from the OPW, the EPA and NPWS.

The Clara Bog video was kindly funded by the OPW and thanks are due to Anja Murray for narration and to Paul Johnston for contributing. The video is produced by CrowCrag Productions (Twitter@crow_crag).

Bhí an físeán Eanach Bhaile Pholaird maoinithe go cineálta ag an EPA agus tá buíochas le Anja Murray as reacaireacht agus le Tristram Whyte as cur leis. CrowCrag Productions (Twitter@crow_crag) a léiríonn an físeán. Féach ar tuilleadh i Sraith Físeán Bogaigh na hÉireann >

The Tralee Bay video was kindly funded by the OPW and thanks are due to Anja Murray for narration and to Dr David McCormick, Ecologist, Institute of Technology Tralee, for contributing. The video is produced by CrowCrag Productions (Twitter@crow_crag), with additional wildlife footage courtesy of Viridiflavus.

The Coole Park video was kindly funded by the OPW and thanks are due to Anja Murray for narration and to Raymond Stephens, NPWS Conservation Ranger, and to Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, Plant Ecologist, for contributing. The video is produced by CrowCrag Productions (Twitter@crow_crag), with additional wildlife footage courtesy of Ecofact.

The Wexford Wildfowl Reserve video was kindly funded by the OPW and thanks are due to Anja Murray for narration and to Dominic Berridge, NPWS Conservation Ranger and to Karin Dubsky, Marine Ecologist Trinity College Dublin, for contributing. The video is produced by CrowCrag Productions (Twitter@crow_crag), with additional wildlife footage courtesy of Ecofact.

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EPA Catchments Unit

Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?
Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.