Zimbabwe hosts key talks on wetlands conservation
By Alberto Leny, July 29, 2025Nations last week met in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, for crucial talks on wetlands, as the world continues to be confronted by escalating environmental challenges.
The 15th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP15) to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands was a pivotal moment for wetland conservation.
Wetlands play a vital role in promoting biodiversity and tackling climate change. They are vital guardians of life on Earth, storing carbon, fostering biodiversity and protecting coastlines.
Including bird-filled marshes and carbon-rich swamps, wetlands are ecosystems that regulate water cycles, while supporting climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation.
Yet, they are disappearing rapidly due to urbanisation, agriculture and climate change.
In the past half-century, more than a third of wetlands have been lost, threatening both nature and cultural heritage.
The rapid degradation of wetlands demands stronger commitments and decisive action.
At COP15 in Zimbabwe, experts from the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) highlighted the role of wetlands in climate adaptation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
CIFOR-ICRAF harnesses the power of trees, forests and agroforestry landscapes to address the most pressing global challenges of our time – biodiversity loss, climate change, food security, livelihoods and inequity.
Delegates at COP15 addressed calls to align the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands’ work more closely with the climate and biodiversity agendas, and revisited a COP14 proposal to delist Ramsar sites in disputed territories.
Youth integration
They also reviewed an assessment of the impacts of war on Ukraine’s wetlands and considered the convention’s draft fifth strategic plan.
Zimbabwe’s COP15 Alternate President Tadeous Chifamba led delegates in adopting consolidated resolutions on water management, inventories, and wetland values and services.
Delegates pledged to achieve equitable governance and effective conservation of wetlands as protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs).
Also agreed was the strengthening of national actions for the conservation and restoration of waterbird flyways, and implementing the institutional strengthening of the Convention on Wetlands.
River dolphins were recognised as key species for conservation and sustainable use of wetlands in South America and Asia, as was the promotion of sustainable lifestyles for the wise use of wetlands.
Resolutions were made on youth empowerment and integration, and promoting incorporation of new technology and traditional knowledge in wetland conservation, restoration, management and wise use.
Progress on youth empowerment and integration included the establishment of 52 youth focal points. Youth Engaged in Wetlands noted that more than 30 youth delegates attended COP15, but also highlighted persistent funding gaps.
Education and participation were recognised as a basis for the management of urban and peri-urban wetlands and strengthening action on culture and wetlands, as well as assessing pressures on and risks to wetlands
Highlights included ensuring the convention’s work on protected areas and OECMs aligns with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, particularly Target 3 seeking to conserve 30 per cent of land and sea areas by 2030; and that efforts on waterbird flyways align with existing flyway initiatives under other multilateral environmental agreements.
CIFOR-ICRAF Principal Scientist and President of the Indonesia Academy of Sciences, Prof Daniel Murdiyarso, says not all ecosystems are judged equal, and our planet’s eye-catching ‘crowd favourites’—tropical rainforests, coral reefs and glaciers—often occupy a disproportionate amount of conservation effort and concern.
“Earth’s wide array of wetlands, meanwhile—which includes marshes, swamps, peatlands, mangrove forests, bogs, fens, saltmarshes, estuaries, and more—tends to receive few accolades,” Murdiyarso adds, noting that ambivalence to these ecosystems often emerges in our language.
In English, for instance, one might speak of being ‘bogged down’, ‘swamped’ or ‘mired’ when stuck.
Few of the adjectives we use to describe them are flattering: ‘soggy’, ‘damp’ and ‘murky’ are some that come immediately to mind.
Forgotten ecosystems
“For most of us, the notion of a holiday in the wetlands conjures far less exciting images than that of a beach or forest. These are not the places to have picnics,” he explains.
However, Murdiyarso says an ecosystem’s level of appeal to humans is often a poor indicator of its contributions to our planetary systems, noting that with wetlands, this seems particularly the case.
The stagnation and decay that often characterise these ecosystems sequester huge and critical amounts of carbon, as they currently stash over 30 per cent of total planetary soil carbon on just 6 per cent of land surface area.
A recent study by CIFOR-ICRAF and partners shows that these forgotten ecosystems may mitigate more than half of Southeast Asia’s land-based greenhouse gas emissions when appropriately managed.
The planet’s wetlands are also extremely biologically rich, providing a unique habitat for a diverse range of flora and fauna.
Wetlands’ worth has not always been underemphasised.
Thousands of years ago, Central America’s Mayan people built raised gardens above the waterlogged soil and cultivated complex, highly productive polycultures there that could withstand droughts.
Rice, one of the planet’s staple crops, evolved in the wetlands of the Yangtze River Basin.
Throughout the muddy mangrove forests of Southeast Asia, shrines and sacred sites speak to the cultural significance of these spaces.
We rely on wetlands more than we realise. They cycle and purify water and act as nurseries for fish and other edible species.
Wetlands protect communities from flooding, storm surges and sea level rise and provide a wide range of nature-based services.
Their contributions are particularly critical in developing countries, where governmental assistance is scarcer and climate impacts can be most intense.
But despite these contributions, our wetlands face multiple threats.
Since 1700, approximately 87 per cent of the world’s wetlands have been lost, with 64 per cent of this loss occurring since 1900.
Between 1970 and 2015, there was a 35 per cent reduction in global wetland area, indicating that wetlands are disappearing three times faster than forests, says Murdiyarso.
Land-use change is the biggest driver of wetland degradation.
Economic development, which continually requires new land to drain and claim for agriculture, urban expansion and infrastructure projects (such as roads, housing and industrial zones) contributes.
Agriculture alone has damaged over half of the world’s Ramsar Convention-designated Wetlands of International Importance.
Humanity must work to protect the planet’s remaining wetlands and restore those that are already degraded, too.
Generations to come need these unique ecosystems, which have to be protected right now.
That means advocating for stronger wetland conservation policies at all levels of government.
Governments need to expand the number and reach of protected wetlands, designating them as national parks, nature reserves, or Ramsar sites.
Integrating wetlands into national climate and water policies, in ways that acknowledge and make the most of their essential roles in flood control, carbon storage, and biodiversity conservation, is also critical to ensure they receive the oversight and consideration they deserve.
Policies should be tailored to limit water extraction and unsustainable harvest of wetland species and to regulate agricultural runoff and the dumping of pollutants.
It’s also critical to clarify local communities’ priorities in wetland areas and support customary use and sustainable livelihood activities whilst limiting destructive practices and large-scale land use change.