In celebration of World Wetlands Day last February 2, Women4Biodiversity created and shared weekly videos featuring women and their communities working to protect and restore wetlands near and around their homes. From sewing bags from cloth scraps to reducing plastic pollution in wetlands to channelling water to revive dried-up bodies of water, these women show that when #WomenActforWetlands, great things happen for biodiversity and the community.
See their stories in the videos below:
1) Saying no to plastic in Vembanad Lake
They sew not just cloth bags but also menstrual cloth pads – the women living around Vembanad Lake in Kerala, India are using creative ways to reduce plastic in the wetland. The organization Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment has successfully facilitated and capacitated women in the lake’s nearby communities to protect Vembanad Lake and its estuaries.
2) Guardians of the mangroves and ocean
Barranquilla +20, a youth-led organization in Colombia is not just leading beach clean-ups but also training youth, including girls, to be guardians of the environment.
3) Reviving dried-up bodies of water
Can water flow again in barren ponds, and even address water shortages in the community? These women in Bundelkhand region in India show us it can be done. More details in the Mongabay India story here.
4) Preventing further degradation
What should you do when a wetland in your community begins to show signs of degradation? You do what you need to do to restore it now, so it doesn’t get worse. Tanzanian Youth Biodiversity Network is working with the local community to do this.