RIVERS & LAKES 2030 GLOBAL GOAL
We started the preparation of a comprehensive integrated management plan for three sub-basins of the Ganges River under the government-led National Mission for a Clean Ganges initiative. The three sub-basins span an area of nearly 1.9 million ha. We analysed over 280 wetlands in this basin and prepared 275 wetland health cards, which help government and other stakeholders prioritize responses to immediate threats and identify priority areas for future conservation efforts within these wetlands.
in three major wetland landscapes (Sourou Valley, Mali; Lac Wegnia, Mali; Ziway Shalla, Ethiopia). The approaches will ultimately drive more sustainable water use and facilitate wetland restoration across these major Sahelian wetland systems. We worked with farmers and landowners to ensure more than 33,000 ha of wetlands are under better cattle ranching practices in the Paraná Delta and Pantanal. As coordinators of the Wetlands Task Force under the government-led Latin American Initiative 20x20 for Ecosystem Restoration, we initiated a governmental dialogue to promote and enable wetland restoration within the region. One million ha will be restored and protected through forest management and sustainable livestock practices in Argentina (and 50m ha in the Latin America & Caribbean region) by 2030. We brought attention to the potential of upland wetlands or “natural sponges” to retain peak floodwaters in the aftermath of the floods in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, and Netherlands. The research, advocacy and communications we undertook with partners has led to the concept now being embedded in the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change and in the EU Guidance on Barrier Removal for River Restoration.
scheme. This new fund was used to pilot a model for basin restoration which combats downstream flooding through innovative community-led reforestation (so-called ‘rainforestation’) and has so far brought back 60 ha of forest in the Cagayan de Oro river basin of the Philippines. We raised awareness and secured endorsement for the Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel initiative from civil society, African governments and intergovernmental bodies, including the World Bank, UNCCD, the EU, and the African Union’s Commission for the Great Green Wall Initiative as a result of the Climate Adaptation Summit and participation in African Union and Sahel G5 meetings. In collaboration with GIZ, IUCN, IWMI, BBC Media Action, and the Potsdam Institute, we gained approval from the German government to develop a major EUR 20 million climate mitigation and adaptation programme in the Niger Basin. The programme will support the Basin authority and the riparian states to improve implementation of transboundary Integrated Water Resource Management measures in the Niger Basin. We prepared a guidebook for the management of high-altitude wetlands, as part of the UNDP Secure Himalayas Project, which was endorsed by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in India. This guidebook will be used in the National Mission on Himalayan Studies project in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Sikkim. By engaging key EU decision makers including the Presidency led by Slovenia, we promoted the role of wetlands within the water peace and security nexus. As a result, the Council conclusions on Water in the EU’s external action (Nov. 2021) emphasise the essential role of conserving and restoring aquatic ecosystems, notably wetlands, to foster human development, to protect biological diversity, to reduce water pollution, and to enhance climate action in line with the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Our goal is to 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.
By 2030, we aim to safeguard 10 million hectares of high value river and lake wetlands, focusing on five basins.
Rivers & Lakes Healthy wetlands
Significant programmes in major wetland landscapes in target basins and beyond have been set in motion with upscaling plans underway
In the Ziway-Shalla Basin in Ethiopia, we piloted 1,000 ha of landscape restoration and buffer zone establishment to showcase how these measures contribute to improving the health of Lake Ziway. We established transboundary wetlands management committees for the implementation of management plans for the Sango Bay-Minziro (endorsed by governments of Uganda and Tanzania) and Semliki (endorsed by governments of Uganda and DRC) transboundary wetlands as part of the Nile Equatorial Lakes Technical Advisory Committee (NEL-TAC). We completed management plans and started implementation in the Pantanal and the Paraná Delta, improving the productive management and restoration of more than 1.3 million ha of protected wetlands. We completed the management plan for the 380,000 ha Pozuelos UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, including the 7,000 ha Lagoon - a Ramsar site - in close collaboration with Argentinian governmental agencies in charge of site management. We secured an investment by Greenchoice for fire prevention and management in 20,000 ha of a key Pantanal landscape to reduce emissions and achieve community and biodiversity impacts. This project allows us to explore upscaling strategies through carbon finance.
Rivers & Lakes
Resilient wetland communities
By 2030, we aim to safeguard and restore 60 million hectares of wetland as integral elements of productive river and lake landscapes.
We launched a three-year initiative called Source to Sea in East Africa, with key funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. This aims to upscale approaches to combat the drivers of wetland and biodiversity loss in Eastern Africa mangrove and Rift Valley ecoregions. In the Rift Valley this includes a focus on unsustainable agricultural practices, in the Ziway-Shalla (1.5 million ha) and Omo-Gibe-Turkana (14.6 million ha) basins. We set up five micro-catchment committees, endorsed by government in the Agago River catchment, Uganda (60,000 ha). The committees provide local direction and coordination on basin-wide water management to help build resilience to disaster risk. In the Sahel, we piloted and supported the adoption and scaling of innovative agricultural land and water management approaches by communities across 3,500ha
We have made good progress establishing and consoli- dating programmes in major productive landscapes but need to accelerate this process to be able to realise our goal of 60mha.
By 2030, we aim that EUR 500 million is committed to enable Nature-based Solutions in freshwater wetlands, for climate mitigation and adaptation.
Rivers & Lakes
Reduced climate risks
Although good progress is being made, we need to accelerate our progress in our target productive landscapes to be able to make the case to leverage the anticipated target.
Together with Vitens, a large fruit plantation company, the Cagayan de Oro Basin Council, business and upstream communities, we started a Payment for Ecosystem Services
24
25
Wetlands International Annual Review 2021
Wetlands International Annual Review 2021
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online