Overview

• The Global Wetland Outlook 2025 finds 22% of wetlands lost since 1970 and a quarter of the remainder now degraded.
• The Convention on Wetlands warns that continuing declines could forfeit as much as $39 trillion in ecosystem services by 2050.
• Loss drivers include land-use change, pollution, agricultural expansion, invasive species and climate impacts such as sea-level rise and drought.
• Restoration projects in Zambia, Cambodia and China show early progress in rehabilitating critical freshwater and coastal systems.
• Delegates from 172 member states will meet at Victoria Falls for Ramsar Convention COP15 to set conservation priorities and funding commitments.