Two great events over the next two weekends for you.

Breakfast with the Birds

When: Saturday, 30 January 2016

Time: 8am to 11am

Where: Central Coast Wetlands, Pioneer Dairy (at Tuggerah)

The Community Environment Network (CEN) has organised a morning of activities at the Central Coast Wetlands, Pioneer Dairy located on South Tacoma Road, Tuggerah.

Registrations start at 8.00am with activities and breakfast running through till 11:00am. The cost for the event includes breakfast and site entry.

Cost: $10 per adult / $6 children (8-14 years) – includes breakfast, short talks, activities and site entry

Bookings are essential.

For more information email: waterwatch@cen.org.au or phone 4349 4757 (its being coordinated by CEN’s Waterwatch Program in partnership with Birding NSW and the Tuggerah Reserve Trust. Waterwatch is support by Greater Sydney Local Land Services through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme.)

Wetland Wonders for Kids – with brekkie

When: Sunday 7 February 2016

Time: 8:30am to 11am

Where: Davistown foreshore

With breakfast in hand, you will hear about the local wetlands as well as the animals that abound within them and elsewhere in Davistown.

Following breakfast, you can take part in activities including dip-netting for waterbugs and a short tour of the local wetlands.

Registrations start at 8:30am. Talks will start at 9.00am and run through until 10.00am. Activities will run from approximately 10.00am to 11.00am.

Cost: $5 adults / $3 children (8-14 yrs) – includes breakfast, short talks & activities

Bookings are essential.

Phone 4349 4756 or email alan.kwok@cen.org.au for more info.

About World Wetlands Day

World Wetlands Day is on 2 February and marks the date the Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, was signed in 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

Wetlands offer substantial economic, social and environmental values, which, if managed sustainably, will provide benefits to future generations. Raising awareness and understanding of wetland values and services is essential for ensuring their wise use and conservation. More than a billion people make a living from wetlands. Livelihoods from fishing, rice farming, travel, tourism, and water provision all depend on wetlands – and they are vital to us in many other ways.

For Wamberal and Forresters Beach in particular they filter water, act as nursery areas for fish, help to control floods and as places for recreation.

The main threat to wetland areas is urban development which removes wetlands, leads to changed stormwater flows, increased stormwater pollution, tree death and weed invasion. This has been happening locally with, shall we say, “inappropriate” developments approved in our area by Council and the various iterations of NSW planning.

If they are managed well, wetland ecosystems and their biodiversity have a role to play in the mitigation of climate change, specifically in terms of their role as water storage areas, as buffers against storms and as they can sequester carbon dioxide.