France celebrates its wetlands during 1 month for the World Wetlands Day!

From January 28 to February 28, throughout France, many associations and communities offer to a wide public to (re)discover the importance of wetlands for the World Wetlands Day!

It’s time for wetlands restauration!

This is the theme chosen for the 2023 edition of the World Wetlands Day (WWD). It reminds us that wetlands continue to disappear all over the world, even though they are one of the most useful ecosystems for responding to the crises - climate, water, biodiversity - that we are currently experiencing; and insists on the urgency of restoring them to preserve the many indispensable services that they provide to humanity.

This major concern can be found in the Wuhan Declaration adopted at COP 14 of the Ramsar Convention; in certain provisions of the 4th National Wetlands Plan and in an appeal "Wetlands are our life insurance" by the Ramsar France association, IUCN France and the Tour du Valat.

World Wetlands Day

In 2021, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed February 2 as "World Wetlands Day", the anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar (Iranian city) Convention on Wetlands. All UN countries are invited to celebrate wetlands. On this occasion, many events are organized to discover and understand the importance of wetlands.

In France, many structures are mobilized each year to offer a various program of several hundred activities throughout mainland France and overseas territories during February.

France is the WWD’s champion

A program of more than 500 activities - nature excursions, conferences, film screenings, nature workshop, cultural activities, etc. - is organized throughout France. This represents half of the activities listed in the world on the occasion of the WWD every year, under the impulse of a national coordination led by the Ramsar France association and supported by many networks of actors!