It is well-known…

It is well-known ecologically that wetlands are critical to water filtration, flood retention, erosion control, carbon storage, nutrient cycling and groundwater recharge. They also provide habitat for specialized wildlife communities. Over 20 percent of Ontario’s species at risk are directly dependent on wetland habitats according to leading researchers and Ontario Nature. Our provincial government is passing legislation that puts wetlands at risk while allowing developers to ride roughshod over protections for Provincially Significant Wetlands.
Wetlands are nature’s sponge and help to protect areas downstream (like built-up urban areas) from flooding. Wetlands help to filter and improve water quality and they are critical as carbon sinks with their abundant vegetation. They remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it. If they are ditched and drained during development all that stored carbon dioxide and methane is released making climate change worse.
The Ontario government's proposal to build over wetlands to provide needed housing units sounds like a plan to implement good intentions (for the public good) in the worst possible way, and likely lowering the resiliance that urban infrastructures and systems, and the human society that lives in them, will need to withstand the effects of climate change in the immediate and long-term future.