For global wetlands, intensifying droughts pose a ‘diabolical’ threat

"People seldom think of wet soil until they step in it, but the Earth’s soggy places quietly do the work of legions: holding together coasts, giving shelter to young fish, preventing floods, filtering water, storing carbon and providing a legacy of fertile soil — quite a job for some mud.

"Covering roughly one-tenth of the land area of Earth, places with wet soils — wetlands, fens, springs, swamps, peatlands, floodplains, moorlands — provide an estimated $27 trillion in benefits to humanity every year." Prof. Jay Bell is quoted in the story on Mongabay.