"More than 170 countries have gathered to save critical ecosystems. But the U.S. is a no-show and Russia said it will withdraw from the wetlands treaty."
"VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe—Scientists and civil society are urging delegates from more than 170 countries represented at a summit here to step up ambitions to combat the continued destruction of Earth’s fastest-disappearing ecosystem.
Wetlands underpin all life on Earth, supplying fresh water, oxygen, habitat and food. Yet since 1970 more than 35 percent of wetlands have been lost or degraded at a pace three times faster than losses experienced within forests.
The U.N. gathering known as the 15th meeting of the conference of the Contracting Parties of the Convention on Wetlands (COP15), one of the oldest global environmental protection treaties, comes just weeks after scientists released a dire warning about the destruction and declining health of global wetlands, describing the decline as an overlooked crisis that threatens food and water security, and worsens climate change.
“We need to do things faster and more effectively,” Hector Aponte, president of the Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program, said this week."
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