Blog: Protecting biodiversity means saving the bogs (and peatlands, swamps, marshes, fens…)
As it does every year, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) will be evaluating plant and animal species to determine which ones deserve federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. About half of the species chosen for analysis so far in 2024 have something in common: Their futures depend on the conservation of wetlands. A mere coincidence? Probably not. While wetlands cover just 6 percent of the earth’s land surface area, they provide habitat for a whopping 40 percent of plants and animals. In all likelihood, we can expect this trend of wetland-dependent species coming under the protection of the Endangered Species Act to continue, predicts Amy McNamara, a freshwater ecosystems strategist for NRDC. But this, she says, “is something that we should work to avoid at all costs.”