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Wetlands are areas of land where there is a large percentage of water - such as a swamp.
They are found all over the world from the cold tundra lands of the north and south to the hot steamy rainforests of the equator. Most contain freshwater, some are brackish and others are truly marine. Some wetlands are permanent features - e.g. the rivers of the Amazon Basin and the Caroni and Oropouche water systems in Trinidad. Water evaporated from the seas or transpired from plants returns as rainfall filling both upland and lowland wetlands. Wetland systems, and their forested counterparts, slowly release their waters either to the atmosphere or to the sea, playing a major role in governing world climate.