The World Wetlands Day marks the date of the adoption of the "Convention on Wetlands" on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. This symbolic date provides an opportunity to highlight the ecological issues related to these rich ecosystems of transition between water and land.

Indeed, wetlands have a crucial role for living organisms because of their important hydrological functions, their incredible productivity as well as their characteristic of being a focal point for biodiversity. Nevertheless, wetlands are unfortunately among the most threatened ecosystems in the world and are disappearing at an alarming rate, three times higher than that of forests. Therefore, the protection and conservation of wetlands have become real challenges for our societies today.  

To mark this day, two activities were organized, at Université Laval (Quebec City, QC) and at the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, ON):

At Université Laval, the Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG) held the third edition of the "World Wetlands Day" on Thursday, February 2, 2023, as an awareness day to promote the importance of wetland conservation and restoration. Two informative booths hosted by students allowed visitors to learn more about these wonderful ecosystems and see a small-scale peatland restoration demonstration.

At the University of Waterloo, the Ecohydrology Research Group hosted the 11th Annual World Wetlands Day Research Symposium in the late afternoon and evening of February 1, 2023. The event included a poster session, a lecture by Line Rochefort (U. Laval) on boreal peatlands, and a panel of experts on wetland restoration (Dianna Kopansky, UNEP; Marie-Claire LeBlanc, CSPMA; Kristyn Mayner, DUC, Line Rochefort, U. Laval; Rebecca Rooney, U. Waterloo).