Rewet The Med
The Cooperative Effort Of The Mediterranean Basin To Restore (Its) Wetlands
Given their value, wetlands require a coordinated integral ecological approach among the Emblematic Communities of the Mediterranean Diet.
Humanity in the 21st century has an arduous task to accomplish: trying to re-establish harmony with all living beings on Earth, by recovering the philosophy of common well-being that seems to have been dangerously abandoned by modern man.
The current level of anthropization has no equal in history and has proportionately affected the soil and the sea, society and biodiversity, implementing a boomerang effect that returns to humanity the same level of damage and imbalance that we have generated in the outside world.
Less biodiversity naturally means less food diversity, fewer nutrients in the soil, less nutrient food, less micronutrients for mankind. On the contrary, preserving and valuing the natural ecosystem maximizes ecosystemic services, water quality, soil stability, carbon sinks, which in turn, disseminate human well-being, social cohesion, and economic prosperity.
Yet, if in recent years there has been a great increase in awareness about climate change, the same cannot be said about the role played by wetlands.
By perfectly combining water and terrestrial ecosystems, lakes, rivers, saltwater marshes, estuaries, and lagoons ****are unique hotspots for biodiversity: 40% of the world’s species live and survive thanks to wetlands.
Wetlands are also natural containers of freshwater and up to 20 times greater carbon sinks than boreal forests, without considering the immense ecosystem services associated with them, which are worth $47 trillion a year.
Yet, 35% of them have been completely lost since 1970.
On the occasion of the international day of wetlands, preserving wetlands urgently requires acting for people and nature.
WETLANDS: A HERITAGE FOR THE WHOLE MEDITERRANEAN
When we think about the Mediterranean, we instantly think about its greatest variety of landscapes, agro-diversity, terrestrial and marine ecosystems, rituals, and cultures.
Less recognized is the Mediterranean association with its variety of wetlands.
Yet, wetlands extend for 18.5 million hectares in the Mediterranean, as data reports, with almost 400 coastal lagoons in the Region.
From oasis to lagoons and deltas to Intertidal wetlands, these ecosystems provide natural shelter and habitats for a plurality of marine, terrestrial, and microbial diversity in the Mediterranean: fish stocks, on which Mediterranean populations rely for protein intake, and several vulnerable species.
“It is estimated that there are twice as many endangered species in wetlands than in all Mediterranean ecosystems combined,” reports UNEP.
They also control the interaction between the land and the sea by mitigating the effects of floods and droughts (each acre of wetland can absorb up to 1.5 million gallons of floodwater!!), by constantly replenishing groundwater, and by naturally contrasting climate alterations. In a nutshell, they regulate the complex diversity of the Mediterranean ecosystem.
However, in the last 50 years, we have already lost half of the Mediterranean natural wetlands.
In addition to climate change and extreme weather already weakening their functions, wetlands in the Mediterranean basin are suffering from increasing urbanization and industrialization, which have massively altered the landscape to better accommodate human “comforts.” Conversion of natural habitats into agricultural areas, draining activities of coastal wetlands to expand human settlements, intensive water extraction and contamination for and due to human needs are among the causes affecting at-risk wetlands in the Mediterranean. And with them, the whole Mediterranean ecosystem and agri-culture are equally threatened. With altered wetlands, salinization of the soils accelerates, floods and drought heavily affect the Basin, and groundwater depletes at a higher rate. It is not surprising, though, that the Mediterranean is among the places in the globe to be most affected by climate change.
What will be the destiny of the Mediterranean Diet, the cultural heritage of the whole of humanity, in a similar environmental context?
WETLANDS IN ITALY
In Italy, there are 57 areas defined as Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention (1971), areas of international strategic importance for the maintenance of biodiversity in the world.
73,982 hectares of basins, lakes, marshes, and ponds that cross the peninsula from north to south and contribute to its unique richness in life, including almost 40% of the total Euro-Mediterranean fauna.
Also in our country, wetlands are synonyms of ecosystem cohesion and efficiency, being a place for breeding, habitat, and transitioning of several migratory species. Equally, wetlands ensure high-quality food production. We sometimes forget how much Italian food relies on watershed ecosystems in terms of fishing, breeding, and water-demanding crops.
As an example, according to 2020 data, Italy was ranked as the largest rice producer in Europe, confirming the vital role of wetlands in Italian food production. Yet 2021 ended with dangerous drops in Italian rice production (-25%), due to extreme weather and climate change that inevitably compromise the resilience of wetlands.
Today, we are paying the price of sectorial and short-sighted actions, but we can still reverse the current trend.
This would require embracing an INTEGRAL ECOLOGICAL APPROACH, a new mentality that equally fosters integrated policies and common prosperity.
This would require REGENERATION of all layers of life, by respecting natural rhythms rather than imposing human desires, by restoring ecosystems to improve urban resilience to climate change and by enhancing interconnection.
Within this framework, responsible tourism can become a component of wetland valorization, regenerative agriculture can be seen as a means to spread awareness of nature-based solutions, and conscious local policies can become the strategy to preserve nature and mitigate hydrogeological risks.
Introducing “Green City” schemes, as requested by the Plan Bleu paper means putting CARE and LOVE before profit. But it cannot be long-lasting without multi-level cooperation.
And this is what the Paideia Campus in Pollica, an emblematic community of the Mediterranean Diet and the heart of the Mediterranean Basin, is aiming for: prototyping cities that find resilience in the perfect balance between individuals, society, and their territories.
Being aligned with the project “Wetlands-Based Solutions,” that is involving 10 Mediterranean countries to build a stronger Mediterranean Wetlands Partnership, building “A choral voice for Mediterranean Wetlands” is part of the vision of Pollica, the same village that this year is leading the UNESCO network of the Mediterranean Diet Emblematic Communities.
If the real essence of the Mediterranean Diet relies on fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, fresh fish and meat, local and whole grains as the father of the Mediterranean Diet denomination — Ancel Keys -stressed in his book “Eat well, stay well. The Mediterranean way,” we need to focus on restoration and regeneration of the grassroots: the unique natural and landscape heritage.
Through cooperative efforts, starting from wetlands.
Future Food Mediterraneo, the newly formed B-Corp from the Future Food Institute (FFI), advocates for preserving biodiversity in all its forms: nature, culture, food, and landscape diversity. Through Paideia Campus, the open-air laboratory of land, sea, and landscape biodiversity based in Pollica, in the middle of the Mediterranean basin, the FFI is formally committed to enlivening the concept of integral ecology through integrated approaches grounded in nature-based solutions. With education, innovation, and community for biodiversity, the Institute fosters active conservation of natural and cultural biodiversity, sustainable use of natural resources, and responsible innovation in the Mediterranean agri-food chain. Within the framework of the Food Coalition, together with FAO and UNIDO ITPO, multistakeholderism, co-creation, co-participation, and collaborations between the local community and international actors are the formulas for the FF approach towards biodiversity, which are enshrined in a formal commitment before the Convention on Biological Diversity.
