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Water Resource Mngmt
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Ocean Caraibes has over 25 years experience
mediating conflicts between developers & regulatory
agencies. We help discover and then pursue the best
course of action for all parties.
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FACTS ...
The total economic value of 63 million hectares of wetland
around the world is estimated to be US$ 3.4 billion per
year.
Planting and protecting nearly 12,000 hectares of mangroves
in Vietnam cost US$ 1.1 million but saved annual
expenditures on dyke maintenance of US$ 7.3 million.
Contribution of insect pollinators to global agricultural
output is US$ 190 billion/year.
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Wetlands, producers of
life.
What are
wetlands?
In the past, most people were content to speak of marshes
and swamps without truly understanding their differences. A
marsh is a wet place with herbaceous vegetation. A swamp is
a wet place dominated by shrubs and trees. And since there
are so many different kinds of each, it behooved some unsung
wordsmith to come up a handle that would define both as one.
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The word
"wetland,"
equally accommodates both
marsh and swamp environments. |
Wetlands are producers of life.
Some can be equally to tropical rain forest in regard to
cleansing the environment. Wetlands lock up large amounts
of carbon, generally in the form of peat, thereby preventing
it (carbon) from entering the atmosphere as carbon dioxide,
the principal culprit in global warming. Similarly,
wetlands absorb and filter pollutants that would otherwise
degrade lakes, rivers, reservoirs and aquifers.
Wetlands provide feeding, spawning
and nursery grounds for a large percentage of
saltwater and freshwater fish alike. Plus, wetlands provide
habitat for many resident and migratory bird species.
Wetlands protect people and
property from too much water. They help control
flooding. Coastal wetlands buffer the impact of storm tides
on populated uplands while inland marshes sponge up runoff
and reduce flood crests downstream. Wetlands stabilize
shorelines and river banks. They are the glue that holds the
land together.
Unfortunately, over the past several decades, developers’
attempts at “improving” and or simply removing wetlands have
caused numerous problems, even catastrophes throughout the
world, including the Caribbean. What once were active and
vibrant ecological sanctuaries and natural environmental
tools have become nothing more than mud puddles, messes and
worse.
Too often nowadays, a tidal marsh or inland swamp is the
focal point some kind of municipal conflict… a landowner or
developer wants to put a piece of his wetlands to a drier
use, and a regulatory agency trying to prevent the action.
Ocean Caraibes has over 25 years experience mediating
conflicts between developer and regulatory agency. We help
discover and then pursue the best course of action for all
involved parties.
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