Wetlands are habitats where water permanently covers the ground or is present at or near the ground surface for some of the year. These waterlogged conditions result in changes to the soil and allows specially adapted plants and animals to live there.

Wetlands are often dynamic habitats where water levels can change from dry to flooded and back again. Wetlands include natural habitats such as mangroves, peatlands, wet grasslands, marshes, rivers and their floodplains, lakes, deltas, wet woodlands and coral reefs and human made habitats such as rice-fields, fish ponds and water treatment constructed wetlands. Wetlands exist in every country and in every climatic zone, from the polar regions to the tropics, and from high altitudes to dry regions.

The video below introduces an example of an important wetland found in Guyana, South America.