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World Wetlands Day

2 February 2024, Video Message by Dr. QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on World Wetlands Day.

Language English

Duration 3m23s

Edit Version Full Mix

Video Type Video Message

Date 02/02/2024 12:00 AM

File size 371.10 MB

Unique ID UF164G0

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Script World Wetlands Day
Video Message
By
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
2 February 2024
Excellences,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. World Wetlands Day provides us with an opportunity to celebrate the vital connection
between wetlands and human well-being.
2. From mighty inlets, mangroves and mud-flats, to flood-plains, peat bogs, fishponds and
rice paddies, wetlands are extraordinary ecosystems.
3. They provide us with freshwater and food, supporting the livelihoods of over one billion
people globally.
4. As reservoirs of biodiversity, wetlands improve water quality, store carbon, and protect
against floods and droughts.
5. However, wetlands are declining fast due to human impact, made worse by the climate
crisis and increased biodiversity loss, thereby intensifying the water crisis and
threatening food security and livelihoods.
6. In response, FAO works with Members to help farmers, fishers, herders, and forest-
dependent people to conserve, sustainably use, and restore wetlands.
7. To produce more with less, and ensure food and water security for all.
8. To support sustainable inland fisheries and freshwater aquaculture, we promote the
integrated management of water resources and inland aquatic ecosystems that also
take into consideration environmental impacts.
9. FAO develops and promotes innovative solutions to restore wetlands, address water
quality and reduce pollution caused by agrifood systems, in collaboration with partners
and other UN agencies.
10. We raise awareness on the benefits of multifunctional and value-added roles of paddies
with enhanced water use efficiency and water productivity approaches.
11. Through Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), such as the Hani Rice
Terraces of China and the Kuttanad Wetland Ecosystem in India,
12. FAO works together with local communities and Indigenous Peoples, and with partners
such as the Ramsar Convention, to protect wetlands and those who depend on them by
promoting inclusive and sustainable agricultural practices based on science, combined
with local knowledge, traditions, and culture.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
13. We need healthy wetlands for our planet, and for our well-being.
14. Let us continue to join efforts to protect, conserve and restore these precious
ecosystems by scaling-up and investing in the transformation of agrifood systems to
make them more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient, and more sustainable,
15. For better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving
no one behind.
16. Thank you.

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