Key Highlights

• Coverage: Inland freshwater, coastal, and marine wetland extend over 1,800 million hectares.
• Wetland Degradation:22 per cent of the world’s wetlands have been lost since 1970.
• More wetlands are reported as being in poor condition for lower income/lower middle income countries (LICs/LMICs).
  • Africa's wetlands are among the most degraded globally.
• The Ramsar Convention’s strategic goals align with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) Targets.
• Threats faced by Wetlands includes unplanned urbanisation, rapid industrial and infrastructure development.

Best Case Studies

• Regional Flyway Initiative, a US$3 billion partnership across Asia, is restoring more than 140 wetlands critical to migratory birds and nearly 200 million people.
• Seychelles issued the world’s first sovereign “blue bond”.

Way Forward

• Integrating wetlands into national planning: Embedding wetlands into good natural capital accounting.
• Recognising their central role in the global hydrological cycle.
• Embedding and prioritising wetlands in innovative financial solutions: Like debt instruments (such as green bonds, blue bonds) results-based financing instruments.

Ramsar Convention, 1971

• Intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
• India ratified it in 1982.