Resilient wetland communities
RIVERS AND LAKES
2030 TARGET: Integrate wetlands into 8 million hectares of coastal production systems PROGRESS: We are slightly behind schedule. Most of our impact comes through policy work which can be hard to attribute. We are working on this, while also planning to expand our focus on commodities, such as aquaculture production and rice farming.
Goal: Catalyse investment to safeguard and restore rivers, lakes and their accompanying wetlands as part of wider freshwater systems; and to provide water security for people and nature, climate resilience, and sustainable and peaceful landscapes.
This year, we supported tens of thousands of people to improve their livelihoods while safeguarding wetlands. In the Saloum Delta, Senegal, more than 55,000 people are benefiting from sustainable mangrove-based livelihoods and 81 women’s savings and loans groups have provided financial independence for 22,000 people. In Guinea Bissau, sustainable rice farming is reviving 150 hectares of saline wastelands, reducing pressure on mangroves elsewhere and providing a compelling example for upscaling.
In the Parana Delta in Argentina, we supported five artisanal fisher groups to add value to their products and rolled out more sustainable cattle ranching practices across 12 ranches covering 18,000 hectares, and strengthened the management plans for three protected areas. In China, we supported 30 local authorities and coastal zone managers to adopt evidence-based conservation planning, including a focus on restoring feeding habitat for migratory waterbirds in former aquaculture landscapes.
Healthy wetlands
2030 TARGET: Safeguard 10 million hectares of high-value river and lake wetlands in five basins
Reduced climate risks
While our Strategic Intent mentions five priority river basins, our work to safeguard and restore wetland habitats and functions now encompasses more river basins – including progress this year in Argentina, Brazil, Ethiopia, Guinea, India, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and the Philippines. This has included supporting livestock grazing and fire management of key wetlands sites like the Pantanal and Iberá marshes in South America, and working with communities and government on integrated water resource management in the Niger and Volta basins in West Africa and Omo basin in East Africa. In the High Andes of Argentina and Peru, we have supported communities with alternative livelihood choices such as sustainable cattle grazing that help conserve wetlands and raised awareness of the impacts of lithium mining on freshwater ecosystems. Our work is also contributing to wetland species recovery such as flamingos and pelicans in these landscapes. To better capture this, we have developed a standardised system for monitoring biodiversity in Ethiopia’s Central Rift Valley.
2030 TARGET: Mainstream Building with Nature and promote blue carbon solutions, influencing €10 billion of investments in coastal infrastructure solutions. PROGRESS: We are slightly behind schedule. We are making strategic recruitments to mobilise a large Nature-based Solutions initiative in Southeast Asia in and to strengthen our internal capacity on conservation finance.
Together with the EcoShape consortium and Dutch civil society partners, we launched a €120 million innovation programme to demonstrate, document and disseminate Nature-based Solutions in the Netherlands. This programme complements other initiatives such as a US$3.5 billion Asian Development Bank investment programme that
seeks to restore and maintain critical wetlands along the East Asian-Australasian flyway. As part of this, together with Birdlife International and other partners, we identified 50 priority sites for migratory waterbirds and helped define business cases for conservation and restoration of these sites.
Ziway Shalla is a closed water basin, located in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia, and is the country’s most important wetland area. Our work there aims to secure a balanced ecosystem and improve water security in the area. We do this by supporting smallholder farmers by showcasing best practices, introducing efficient irrigation systems, and undertaking watershed interventions at the most critical sites to raise awareness about unsustainable land management, subsequent erosion, and long-term consequences.
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Wetlands International Annual Review 2023
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