Wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate across the globe, an international environmental group reported Thursday, urging policymakers to do more.
Wetlands disappeared by 35 percent between 1970 and 2015, a rate three times that of forests, due to climate change and other "global megatrends" such as population increase and urbanization, according to the Ramsar Convention, the sole international treaty focused on wetlands.
Japan has been a contracting party since 1980 and has 50 Ramsar sites — wetlands designated to be of international importance. The Kushiro wetlands in Hokkaido became the country's first Ramsar site that year. The last four sites were designated in June 2015.