Recognize 
     
     Malpeclue 
     
    
   
   
    
     BY J.A. (SANDY) BURNETT 
     
    
   
   
    
     A couple of weeks ago I spent a 
     
     memorable Sunday afternoon at Prince “ 
     
     Edward Island's Cabot Provincial 
     
     Park. It was not one of those pris- 
     
     tine days calculated to convince Is-v 
     
     land Visitors that they have stum-u 
     
     bled accidentally into the Garden of 
     
     Eden. The weather was miserable. ' 
     
     Gale force northeasterly winds off 
     
     the Guld of St. Lawrence shredded a 
     
     thick blanket of fog into horizontal U 
     
     gusts of cold rain that beat against E~“"“ 
     
     the windows of the park's Interpre- Ema , _ 
     
     tation Centre. ' - ‘ ' v ~ ~ 
     
    

    
     Inside the building some forty people had gathered to witness the 
     
     Hon. Tom McMillan, Canada's Minister of the Environment, as he formally 
     
     dedicated Malpeque Bay as a "wetland of international importance" under 
     
     the Ramsar Convention. 
     
    

    
     "Wetlandindeed!" came the unbidden thought. "If it gets any wetter 
     
     there'll be no land left to dedicate." 
     
    

    
     still, the sarcasm was only momentary, and out of place at that. 
     
     Wetlands — marshes, bogs, coastal shallows and river estuaries — are 
     
     among the world's most precious resources. They are natural reservoirs 
     
     for vital water supplies; they harbour immense quantities of wildlife; 
     
     they provide spawning and rearing grounds for roughly two—thirds of the 
     
     world's fish; their ecological processes are essential to the healthy 
     
     functioning of this planet. 
     
    

    
     One might suppose that such critically important areas would be 
     
     treasured; yet, mankind has subjected these delicately balanced eco- 
     
     systems to such abuse that more than half of the world's wetlands have 
     
     now been destroyed - mostly in this century. 
     
    

    
     Regrettably, Canada's record in this regard has not been very admir- 
     
     able, at least until recently. To date, as much as 80% of the Fraser delta 
     
     in British Columbia, 71% of Prairie sloughs and potholes, 70% of southern 
     
     Ontario wetlands, and 65% of Maritime coastal marshes have been lost - 
     
     drained for agriculture, or terminally polluted by municipal and indust— 
     
     rial wastes, or filled for urban expansion. 
     
    

    
     The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, which was 
     
     signed in 1971 at Ramsar, Iran, is a formal, diplomatic acknowledgment 
     
     that wetlands are at risk everywhere. Australia, Finland, Greece and Nor- 
     
     was were among the first nations to commit themselves to making the pre- 
     
     servation of wetlands a priority consideration in their national land-use 
     
     planning. Canada, which adopted the Convention in 1981, has since become 
     
     a world leader in this field. To date, thirty Canadian sites have been 
     
     designated as wetlands of international importance under the terms of the 
     
     Ramsar Convention, with at least one in every province and territory.