THE SOURCE 2022 - Annual Review - Wetlands International

OUR THEORY OF CHANGE

STRATEGIC INTENT 2020-2030

UPSCALE

MOBILISE

INSPIRE

INSPIRE

MOBILISE

UPSCALE

Over 2020-2030 Wetlands International aims to safeguard and restore tens of millions of hectares of wetlands, bringing multiple returns for nature and people. Our theory of change encapsulates the three main phases of our work: to inspire, mobilise and upscale. These are the key ingredients of our organisational strategy for the period 2020-2030.

We: - Share insights and knowledge - Encourage innovation - Influence agendas

We: - Enable dialogues - Build coalitions around shared vision - Identify and pilot landscape solutions

We: - Design integrated landscape scale plans - Transform policies and attract investments - Improve standards and behaviours of companies

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Healthy Wetlands

Resilient Communities

Reduced Climate Risks

For this period, we are orientating our work to achieve three, interconnected global impacts: healthy wetlands, resilient wetland communities, and reduced climate risks. Our vision, targets and strategic interventions are shaped according to landscapes. We focus on three broad categories of wetland landscapes: Coasts and Deltas, rivers and lakes, and peatlands. “Streams” of work are defined according to the specific contexts of these wetland landscape types. We measure our progress across these three streams according to the following three interconnected global impacts and six outcomes.

Water and food secured for wetland communities

Wetland carbon stores secured and enhanced

Wetland habitats and functions safeguarded and restored

We aim to prevent further wetland loss and degradation that undermines the natural productivity and water storage capacities of peatlands, floodplains, mangrove forests, deltas and lakes. We aim to improve and diversify the livelihoods of people dependent on wetlands, and promote best practices in agriculture and aquaculture, integrating wetland values into the local economy. Reduced societal conflict and displace- ment from wetlands We will in particular strive to resolve situations where deterioration of wetlands - caused by upstream abstraction, climate change or population growth - contributes to loss of livelihoods, human displacement, conflict and migration. Where necessary, we will use peacebuilding and conflict resolution measures to address imbalanced power relations between stakeholders, building capacity for vulnerable and marginalised people to defend their rights to water and wetland resources.

We aim to bring wetlands into activities to adapt to and mitigate climate change, which is otherwise a threat to the integrity of all wetlands. Improving the condition of peatlands, river systems and coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass beds will also reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases and return many to their role as carbon sinks.

We aim to help conserve a selection of the most intact wetland ecosystems and restore others within a full range of wetland types across the world. We also aim to restore other freshwater systems, peatlands, deltas and coastal ecosystems for their intrinsic, cultural and ecosystem-service values. We will prioritise ecological networks that connect landscapes, such as flyways and swim-ways.

HEALTHY WETLANDS

RESILIENT COMMUNITIES

Wetland species recovered

Wetland Nature-based Solutions integrated into infrastructure developments

REDUCED CLIMATE RISKS

Building on our long track record for waterbird conservation, we will contribute to the conservation of wetland biodiversity by working on selected flagship species and groups of species linked to specific habitats.

We aim to steer urban water infrastructure investment and land use planning towards using wetlands to meet challenges such as water insecurity and flooding that are conventionally addressed by civil engineering - an approach that often causes further loss and deterioration of wetlands.

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Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

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