The tropical regions of South America comprise 415 million hectares of wetland, followed by Europe (258 million), North America (242 million), Asia (204 million), Africa (121 to 125 million) and Oceania (36 million). One of the best known examples of wetland destruction is that of the Aral Sea (Kazakhstan, Ouzbekistan) which has lost 75% of its surface area since the 1960s, as the water supply was redirected for irrigation. The Mesopotamia marshland, between the Tigris and Euphrates, in southern Iraq, met the same fate, notably for political reasons, going from around 20,000 km2 in the 1950s to 400 km2 today. In Africa, climate change, the demand for water for irrigation and poor management decisions in the basin reduced the size of Lake Chad, which is shared by Cameroon, Nigeria, Niger and Chad, by 90% in 40 years. For 20 million people, essentially the fishermen and farmers and their families who depend directly on the lake, malnut...
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Antoine Lévêque