V. Translate the following text into Ukrainian Wetlands and Coastal Areas

Wetlands are lands transitional between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. People used to think the only benefit of wetlands was to provide habitat for

migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. In recent years the many ecosystem services that wetlands perform have been recognized, and estimates of their economic value have increased accordingly. Wetlands recharge groundwater and reduce damage from flooding because they hold excess water when rivers flood their banks. Wetlands improve water quality by trapping and holding nitrates and phosphates from fertilizers, and they help cleanse water that contains sewage, pesticides, and other pollutants. Wetlands provide habitat for many species listed as endangered or threatened; these include up to one-half of all fish species, one-third of all bird species, and one-sixth of all mammal species listed on the U.S. endangered or threatened species lists. Freshwater wetlands produce many commercially important products, including wild rice, blackberries, cranberries, blueberries, and peat moss. They are sites for fishing, hunting, boating, bird watching, photography, and nature study.

Many human activities threaten wetlands, including drainage for agriculture or mosquito control and dredging for navigation. Other threats include channelization and construction of dams, dykes, or seawalls for flood control; filling in for solid waste disposal, road building, and residential and industrial development; conversion for aquaculture (fish farming); mining for gravel, phosphate, and fossil fuels; and logging. In the United States, wetlands have been shrinking an estimated 23,700 hectares (58,500 acres) per year since 1985. This represents a slower rate of loss than in previous years. In the contiguous 48 states, more than half of the more than 89.4 million hectares (221 million acres) of wetlands that originally existed during colonial times are gone; only 42 million hectares (104 million acres) remain. Most of the loss since the 1950s has been caused by farmers converting wetlands to cropland. The greatest percentage declines in wetlands have occurred

in the agricultural states of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and California. The greatest total acreage declines in wetlands have occurred in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

The loss of wetlands is legislatively controlled by a section of the 1972 Clean

Water Act. This legislation, up for renewal since 1997, does a reasonably good job of protecting coastal wetlands but a poor job of protecting inland wetlands—and most wetlands occur inland. The Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986 authorized the FWS to inventory and map U.S. wetlands. These maps have many uses, such as planning protection for drinking water supplies, siting development projects, and making recovery plans for endangered species.

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