“The COmON Foundation sees Wetlands International as an influential, while not yet highly visible, organisation with decades of experience and specific expertise in conserving and restoring wetland ecosystems. We like that the team works with partners with a long- term vision and local presence. With our support, we hope they can quickly become even more effective and stronger in capacity to scale up - to accelerate the regeneration of biodiverse, liveable landscapes the world over with their partners.”
Landscape approaches work best with long-term commitments, community support and collaborations that break silos.
The Oder Delta, Poland.
Satellite image of Guinea-Bissau’s coast.
In July, with local Argentinian environmental partners FARN and Fundacion Yuchan, we began a campaign to protect salt flats and their flamingos in the high Andes of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia from giant mines intended to extract lithium to make batteries for electric vehicles. One mine site in northwest Argentina will cover 700 square kilometres. The campaign aims to raise environmental standards and ensure effective regulation in the remote mountains. It builds on our long-standing project with the same partners to protect the high Andean wetlands from destructive pastoral and agricultural activities. That work will be in vain if, as we fear, the mines pollute freshwater wetlands and dry out the land by lowering water tables. And in December, we joined CARE Netherlands, the International Water Management Institute and others in activating the Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel (BLiSS) initiative. This harnesses our expertise working in Mali’s Inner Niger Delta to mobilize government agencies, the private sector and civil society to improving water management across the Sahel. We hope it will ultimately restore 20 million hectares of life-giving wetlands.
To make conservation work across whole landscapes requires long-term commitment, community support and intergovernment and agency collaborations that are rare in conventional compartmentalised environment or development projects. We believe we bring expertise in mobilising such endeavours. One such is the Corredor Azul project, launched in 2018 to protect freshwater ecosystems along the La Plata river basin. Flowing through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay, it is the second largest drainage system in Latin America. Threats include numerous hydroelectric- dams in and around the giant Pantanal wetland, farm and forestry expansion in the Iberá Marshes, and Buenos Aires extending into the Paraná delta. Supported by DOB Ecology, a Dutch family fund, and with local partners, the initial ten-year project is urging governments to promote economic development that will maintain natural river flows and secure a million hectares of wetlands. In August, it launched South America’s largest birdwatching centre in the Iberá marshes, raising the profile of one of Argentina’s best but least known wildlife sanctuaries.
John Loudon Executive Director COmON Foundation
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Wetlands International Annual Review 2021
Wetlands International Annual Review 2021
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