2 Feb 2024

Urban wetlands improving the wellbeing of city dwellers

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There is growing evidence that urban wetlands play a role not only in protecting cities from hazards such as flooding and mitigating the effects of climate change, but that they also play a critical role in positive mental health impacts and overall human wellbeing. Nowhere is this most evident as in the metropolis of Colombo in Sri Lanka where the wetlands are fundamental to the wellbeing of the 2.3 million residents, particularly the urban poor, with 60% of households directly … Read More
18 Aug 2023

What is a Rights of Wetlands approach?

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The drive for economic growth, based on unbridled consumerism, continues to dominate wetland use and associated biodiversity loss, with existing strategies for wetland conservation failing. Up to 87% of global wetlands have been lost, contributing to an average decline of 84% in freshwater species populations and 36% decline in coastal/marine species populations since 1970. Biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation and climate destabilisation constitute connected global emergencies that worsen poverty, and now require transformative approaches, including ethical/legal paradigm shifts. Rights of Nature … Read More
23 Dec 2022

Reflections on participatory video in Colombo

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On the 13th December 2022, together with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, we convened a workshop with the community researchers currently exploring the challenges and best practices in their wetlands sites. As part of the ‘Increasing the resilience of biodiversity and livelihoods in Colombo’s wetlands’ project, community researchers have been working in the Kolonnawa, Kottawa, Beddagana and Madiwela wetlands (jointly with site managers), understanding the history, context and current issues affecting the wetlands, from an ecological and social … Read More
2 Mar 2022

Connecting Wetlands – Celebrating World Wetlands Day 2022

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This year, we are celebrating World Wetlands Day with a story spanning three different and diverse wetlands connected through the SMART project. In this project, we are co-designing flood monitoring tools to be used for wetland management together with communities and diverse actors in Guyana, Sri Lanka and Scotland. Our three sites, the North Rupununi wetlands in Guyana, the Colombo urban wetlands in Sri Lanka and Firth of Forth river and estuary in Scotland are incredibly different. Yet, they are … Read More
2 Feb 2021

Guyana’s biodiversity global hotspot – the North Rupununi Wetlands

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  To celebrate the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands – World Wetlands Day 2021 we are highlighting one of the world’s least known but incredibly important wetland biodiversity hotspots, the North Rupununi Wetlands. This incredible wetland complex is found in the southern interior of Guyana, South America and contains more than 450 fish species, which in turn supply a food chain to endangered species such as the black caiman, giant river otter, giant river turtle, and recovering populations of the largest … Read More
12 Mar 2020

Building capacity to use drones for mapping

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Since 2017, the Cobra Collective has been working with members of the Rupununi Wildlife Research Unit to map the precise location of the hydrological link between the Amazon and Essequibo basins – one of only two places in South America where the waters from the Amazon basin mix with waters from another watershed. This mixing of waters occurs in the Rupununi Wetlands of Guyana, enabling the development of one of the most aquatically biodiverse regions in the world, with over … Read More
2 Feb 2018

Traditional Knowledge in Guyana: Let’s talk about Wetlands!

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Celebrating World Wetlands Day 2018 As we join the world in observing World Wetlands Day, let us reflect on the important role they play in supporting and maintaining healthy ecosystems that contribute to human health and well-being. We need to also recognizing the significant linkages of these unique ecosystems to the life of Indigenous peoples and their role in helping to protecting them through traditional and cultural activities. Traditional Knowledge in Guyana: Let’s talk about Wetlands! Guyana, as ‘Land of … Read More