Tuesday, February 1, 2011

World Wetlands Day 2011

Wednesday 2 February 2011 is World Wetlands Day.

The international theme for World Wetlands Day 2011 is "wetlands and forests - forests for water and wetlands" in celebration of the United Nations International Year of Forests. In Australia, probably the best known forested wetlands are the mangrove forests that line the majority of our coastal rivers and estuaries. These wetlands are important as they deliver significant ecosystem services by providing habitat for a range of wildlife. In recent years, however, mangroves have been acknowledged as not being completely beneficial to estuarine wetlands given their propensity to invade coastal saltmarsh habitats and clog smaller tributaries, leading to impoundment of tidal waters and increased suitability of habitats for pest mosquitoes. Generally though, mangroves still represent an important ecological resource in many areas of Australia as well as internationally.

In celebration of World Wetlands Day (as well as teh 40th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention), I have put together this 15 minute piece comprised of recordings made over the last 6 months or so from the wetlands of Sydney Olympic Park. This track contains recordings made using hydrophones, stereo microphones and shot gun microphones in and around the estuarine and freshwater wetlands of Sydney Olympic Park. This large area of wetlands is located close to the geographic heart of Sydney, the largest city in Australia. The sounds of the city, planes and traffic leaking into the natural sound scape. For more information on Sydney Olympic Park, please visit their website.

For more information on World Wetlands Day, you can visit the Australian Government Environment website or to find out mroe details about international events, as well as the history of the RAMSAR Convention, you can visit the RAMAR site



Above and below the wetland forest (World Wetlands Day 2011) by seaworthy