Nature's diversity and abundance
For as long as people have lived close to wetlands, the natural ecosystems have been a tremendous resource for that most central of human needs – food. This is certainly the case in all the sites in which the Partners for Wetlands Programme is active. In China, the Yangtze River Basin has been called 'The Home of Rice and Fish' and in Malaysia’s Kinabatangan Floodplain, fish and succulent freshwater prawns feature in most meals. The diversity of aquatic resources often translates into some surprising delicacies as well – where else but in the Pantanal would you be able to sample piranha soup or speckled catfish!

Wetland foods are not confined to fish of course. The pastures and grasslands of the Pantanal in Brazil and Zambia’s Kafue Flats are especially important for grazing and farming. Most of the land in the Pantanal is owned by cattle ranchers, while a large proportion of local people in the Kafue are traditional herders, making both areas important for meat, dairy and food crops.

The emergence of commercial agriculture and its impacts
Wetlands and areas close to them have also attracted extensive cultivation and large-scale commercial agriculture. This has often involved increased impact on the natural ecosystem and flood cycles. For example, reclamation of lakes in the Yangtze to build polders, land for rice paddies and vegetable farming, has fragmented wildlife habitats and disconnected the floodplain lakes. The large-scale conversion of floodplain forest in the Kinabatangan for the production of palm oil has also depleted wildlife habitat and impacted water quality. In both these areas, agricultural development has impeded the ability of the wetlands to absorb floodwaters which is one of its vital functions. Irrigation and agrichemicals are further inputs that affect the natural ecosystems and negatively impact the food resources of the wetlands.

Working with partners to restore balance
This issue of the Partners for Wetlands Quarterly explores issues dealing with food production and focuses on efforts being taken by WWF and its partners to reduce environmental impact, encourage best practices for grazing and agriculture, and restore natural processes and wildlife areas. In the Pantanal, WWF-Brazil is actively advocating ecologically sustainable beef production which capitalises on the longstanding tradition of grazing cattle on the wetland pastures in drier months. The cattle which are adapted to these conditions are free of artificial inputs associated with commercial livestock production. Ecologically friendly ranching is also thought to be a more compatible use of the ecosystem, in contrast with vegetation conversion associated with commercial monocultures.

In the Kafue Flats we showcase the establishment of the Mwanachingwala Conservation Area which is a collaboration of sugarcane growers and private farms near Mazabuka with the local community of the Mwanachingwala chiefdom and WWF- Zambia. The land contributed to form the conservancy will be rehabilitated for wildlife conservation and sustainable use of the wetland ecosystem. Funds generated from the tourism to the MCA will be used for socio-economic development for local communities who will continue to access the area for grazing livestock. Similarly, in the Kinabatangan Floodplain, some progressive oil palm plantations are working with WWF Malaysia and the Sabah Forestry Department to reforest flood prone sections of their estates with native tree species to restore wildlife habitat and mitigate flooding impact.

Flooding has also continued to be a serious problem in the Yangtze River Basin. This year, severe flooding along the Huai River in eastern China forced more than 600,000 people from their homes and stranded more than 900,000. Fortunately, some of the impact of flooding was successfully mitigated with the use of retention polders - areas of reclaimed land that have been returned to the floodplain to absorb surging floodwaters. In this issue, we also look at some of the factors affecting the transition to non-polder based economies by local people relocated from these areas. In each of the Partners for Wetlands sites, there is an ongoing need to balance the use of the wetlands for commercial food production without damaging the ability of these living systems to continue to produce food resources and support the natural biodiversity of these areas. Working with the main commercial players, government and local people is the strategy Partners for Wetlands is taking to make inroads towards this aim.