Amado S. Tolentino Jr.
Tomorrow, February 2, is World Wetlands Day. In the Philippines, wetlands or lupaing tubig are usually associated only with mangrove areas. The 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands Conservation, however, extended its definition to include rivers, lakes, open coasts, coral reefs, seagrasses, freshwater marshes/swamps, floodplains, peatlands as well as man-made wetlands like rice paddies and fishponds, to mention a few.