Quick Key Facts
- Wetlands exist on every continent except Antarctica.
- Wetlands are home to hydrophytes, literally water plants.
- Freshwater marshes are the most common and widespread wetlands in North America.
- The Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh is a saltwater swamp that boasts the world’s biggest uninterrupted mangrove forest at 140,000 hectares.
- Wetlands provide habitat or breeding grounds for 40% of all plant and animal species.
- Peatlands cover only around 3% of the Earth’s surface but store around 30% of its soil carbon.
- According to one estimate, wetlands are disappearing at three times the rate of forests and are considered the world’s most imperiled ecosystem.
- Nearly half of the tidal wetlands along the U.S. coast are vulnerable to sea-level rise by 2100.
- In Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a wetland only had federal protection if its surface…
Read the full article originally published at www.ecowatch.com.