Benefit of Wetland

:Image Source: National Geographic. All around the world, wetlands provide huge benefits, including clean water, ensuring a stable water supply, and providing important habitat to a wide variety of species. Wetlands are also important for disaster risk reduction. Approximately 90 per cent of disasters are caused by water-related hazards, such as floods and droughts. As recognized in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-20301 , wetlands and the ecosystem services they provide are critical to reduce disaster and climate risks and to build resilience to climate extremes. Wetlands are defined as land areas flooded with water, either seasonally or permanently. Along the coastline, wetlands act as a natural buffer against disasters. Inland, they act as a natural sponge, absorbing and storing excess rainfall and reducing flooding. In drought-prone areas, they release the stored water, which helps delay the onset of droughts and reduce water shortages. Healthy wetlands help minimize erosion and storm damage. Healthy wetlands also help communities bounce back. Following a 1999 cyclone that hit Odisha in eastern India, rice paddies protected by mangroves recovered their food production much faster than croplands without the buffer. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that even more extreme events can be expected in the future as a result of climate change. This expected increase in the frequency of climate and weather-related disasters will mean that maintaining wetlands will prove even more