The Source
2019 Annual Review of Wetlands International

WETLANDSINTERNATIONAL
IS THE ONLY GLOBALNOT-FOR-PROFITORGANISATION
DEDICATED TO THE
CONSERVATION
AND RESTORATION OF
WETLANDS

What are wetlands?
Wetlands occur wherever water meets land – mangroves,peatlands, marshes, rivers, lakes, deltas, floodplains, flooded
forests, rice-fields, and even coral reefs. Wetlands exist in every
country across the world and every type of region – polar,
tropical, wet, dry, high and low altitude.
Healthy wetlands are key to restoring nature and healing our
climate, yet the world has lost up to 65 per cent of its original
wetlands. Urgent action is needed to reverse this decline andrevive these natural wonders.

Our Vision
A world where wetlands are treasured and nurtured for theirbeauty, the life they support and the resources they provide.
Our Mission
To inspire and mobilise society to safeguard and restore
wetlands for people and nature.

A Bayei fisherman in a mokoro, silhouetted by the midday sun, casts a long shadow on the waters of
the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Used in the book, Water Lands, Harper Collins 2020.
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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 20193

ANNUALREVIEW
2019
CONTENT

4

18

20

46

48

55

UN
CLIMATEACTIONSUMMIT

Restoring
Mangroves

Wetlands
on firePARANÁ
DELTA

KeizrulAbdullah

27

28

35

60

67

68

AnnadelSalvioCabanban

PEAT
LANDS
WILL
SAVE
THE
WORLD

Titus
Wamea

BUILDING
WITH
NATURE

Menno
de BoerBLUE
LIFELINES

36

42

44

75

USING
DATA
TO HELPPREVENT
CONFLICT

Ramsarpartners
forwetlands

Managing
drainageof tropicalpeatlands

Savingthe marsh
deer

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

From our CEO
Achievements
From the supervisory council
Hasting Chikoko
Michael Succow
Wetlands for a safer world
Offices map
Streams of work
Flyways map
Functioning of the organisation
Summary of finance

6
8
38
40
43
56
76
78
80
82
90

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

5

FROM OUR CEO
Jane Madgwick, CEO, Wetlands International

Given the precipitous decline in wetlands worldwide, highlighted by the 2019
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services (IPBES) report, a priority for Wetlands International has been to design
pathways to upscale our impact: from local habitat improvements to wholelandscape transformation, developing local economies based on wetland values.
In this annual review, you can find examples of how we are developing data-driven
tools and capacities to help steer and mobilise on-ground interventions for impact
at scale. You can also gain a sense of how we work in unusual partnerships acrosssectors to design and mobilise nature-based solutions at scale.
Wetlands International global leadership team came together in The Pantanal, Brazil, for its annual meeting 2019

“Nature-based solutions” such as restoring wetlands andforests were given a political boost in 2019, hailed by world
leaders as necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and make our cities safe. At the Climate Action Summit in
New York, hundreds of commitments were made by governments, cities, companies, NGOs and individual champions.

water risks and community resilience, peace and humansecurity in the Sahel (see Blue Lifelines, page 68).
Wetlands International is playing a vital catalytic role indeveloping clear propositions for future large-scale public
and private sector investment. Working as a key member ofstrategic partnerships like the Global Resilience Partnership,
Ecoshape, Global Mangrove Alliance and Global Peatland
Initiative, is a promising means to leverage these outcomes.

However, many were “add-on extras” to traditional infrastructure plans, or over-simplistic approaches such as planting trees, rather than systemic solutions. What’s clear fromthis is that we have important work to do to mobilise society around nature-based solutions with healthy, functioning
ecosystems at the centre, integrated with mainstream development and climate action.

In 2019, as for every five years, we reviewed our Strategic
Intent and drafted the basis for a new ten-year direction.
We consulted our stakeholders around the globe and heldwebinars to establish dialogue over the main adjustments
needed to meet the emerging trends. Overall, we wereencouraged to respond to emerging trends, be ambitious
and to influence global agendas to enable more action for
wetlands, while staying true to our roots. In November, webrought this all together in an extra-special, annual meetingof our global leadership team, held in the biggest wetlandof the world, The Pantanal, Brazil, where we recently established an office and programme.

Our work over the last decades in peatlands, deltas, along
coasts, rivers and their floodplains has yielded a mega-store
of knowledge, tools and approaches, which can inform upscaling and replication. This now needs to come to the fore.
With this in mind, we contributed to the landmark publication “Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate
Resilience” by the Global Center on Climate Adaptation andengaged strongly throughout the year advising on its Action
Tracks. We announced three significant commitments linked
to ambitious partnerships to elevate the role of wetlands
in tackling issues of Asian coastal and city protection from

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Jane Madgwick, CEO, Wetlands International

As a result, our Strategic Intent 2020-2030 presents a revised mission and clarity on how we will work to scale up
impact for healthy nature, resilient communities and to reduce climate risks in three main wetland landscapes: deltas

and coasts, river and lake system and peatlands. I would liketo say a huge thank you to those who gave their valuableadvice and encouragement in this process. Your continued
support and this new framing will help us to focus, to develop the organisation and our partnerships, with a renewed
common purpose.
Many plans were made in 2019 for the anticipated “super year” for nature in 2020, intended to drive forward a
coherent global agenda to tackle climate change and to
re-set global targets for biodiversity. With the post-2020
biodiversity framework in development, we raised the issueof the connectivity of wetlands being confined to protectedislands, and advocated for the need for an additional targetof restoration of 50% of the loss of wetlands over the last
50 years.
Understandably, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and theneed to put the protection of human lives first, these pivotal processes have been postponed. This raises uncertainty
about political commitment and resourcing. But, there aresigns of a revival of “listening to the science”. The growing
recognition of the need for urgent climate action, and toheal the Earth by restoring ecosystem health, alongsidehuman health is encouraging. We hope that there will now
be an awakening to the inter-connectedness of people andnature that will lead to new, joined-up action.

Wetlands Annual Review 20197

ACHIEVEMENTS

Blue Lifelines in the Desert

Blue Lifelines inthe Desert

This chapter presents the achievements realised by Wetlands International in 2019, together with its partners.
We have organised these achievements along our five streams of work. As laid-out in our strategic intent 2015-2025
we developed targets that we aim to achieve by 2020. The section below summarises progress towards these targets.

Summary
Below we assess our achievements in 2019 in the context
of the five-year targets set for the five streams of workthat enable us to chart our progress in implementing ourstrategic intent 2015-2020. As we will focus our action
from 2020 on three streams of work (Deltas and Coasts,
Rivers and Lakes, and Peatlands) our assessment at the endof this strategy period comprises results over five years ofaction. Achievements described are the result of our entire
network working in collaboration with many other partners,
locally and internationally. We focus on those achievements for which the Wetlands International’s contribution
was instrumental.
In summary, there was significant progress in all streams
towards the targets in 2019 and over the five-years since
January 2015. We are on track to achieve or exceed ourambitions in nearly half of the targets. In the others substantial progress has been made but more time is required
to fully achieve the targets.
Some of the stand-out achievements are seen in action toconserve or restore iconic wetlands for biodiversity, whilebringing benefits for climate mitigation and adaptationand community livelihoods. While this is the case acrossall streams, most notable are the wetland priorities of the
Inner Niger Delta being included in the Mali water policy
and strategic plan for natural resources, restoring peatlands in the Puna region of the High Andes, establishing a
Ganges-wide floodplain restoration programme in India,
and supporting the establishment of the Yellow Sea World
Natural Heritage site in China.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

There were key achievements that result from building cooperation with economic sectors and applying innovative
wetland management techniques and financing mechanisms that integrate wetland values into the economy.
These include the mainstreaming of Building with Nature
in Indonesia as a national priority in tackling acute coastal
erosion and the multi-country interest in taking this approach to the Asian scale, the payment for ecosystem services agreement secured in the Philippines, the inclusionof paludiculture (agriculture on wet peatland) as a supported land use in the Common agricultural policy of the European Union, the launch of a water fund in the Sebou Basinin Morocco, and engaging a wide network of private sector
actors to promote new commercial crops for re-wetted
peatlands in Southeast Asia.
Of course not everything went according to plan. Rising social conflicts have held us back from field work, for example, in the Sahel. In our efforts to change damaging practices in Southeast Asian peatlands, we enabled positive steps
in terms of the uptake of wise hydrological managementof palm oil plantations on peatland, but were met with opposition from the pulp and paper industry on the roadmap
for withdrawal from peatland cropping. We also suffered
unexpected delays in obtaining government approval for
new projects in several countries.
Scaling-up our successes remains an overall challenge forthe organisation that we plan to tackle systematically, directed by our new strategic Intent 2020-2030

We have continued to integrate improved
wetland management into socio-economic
development, in the Upper Niger / Niger Delta,
Upper Sourou sub-basins and increasingly in
the Central Rift Valley in Ethiopia.

OUR
SCORINGSYSTEMOn track to exceed
target (we willachieve the target
before 2020)

We expect to achieve
the target by 2020

In Mali, we helped ensure that future investments in the Inner Niger Delta and Sourou
Basin will be guided by priorities for wetlands
that are now anchored in the new national
water policy. By working with communities
and establishing cooperative groups we haveshown that wetland habitat can be restored
alongside sustainable fishery management
and rehabilitated local scale agricultural infrastructure. We have successfully transferred
this learning into a strategic plan for the restoration and conservation of biodiversity andnatural resources in the Inner Niger Delta.
Human conflict continues to play significant
role in the region, slowing the roll out of ourprogrammes and the opportunities to scaleup. However, regional and global developmentbanks are starting to see wetland restoration
as a way of increasing cooperation in andamong countries.

Substantial progress,
but more time isneeded to reach ourtargetSo far, there is no
significant overall
progress

The situation isdeteriorating and we
can’t manage to make
improvements

Improved status of atleast 3 major wetland
systems in the Sahel,
as part of efforts toachieve sustainable
and climate resilient
development.

Wetlands Annual Review 20199

Replenished water stores frommountains to sea

Replenished water stores frommountains to sea

Replenished water stores frommountains to sea

Save and restore
mountain water
towersWater and foodsecure wetlandcommunities

Floodplains
for safety andsecurity

There is continued progress in 2019.

We will exceed our target thanks to further
government and multilateral investments committed from GIZ and the Nile Basin Initiative tothree major wetlands in the Nile Basin; Sango
Bay - Minziro (Uganda and Tanzania), Sio-Siteko (Kenya -Uganda) and Semiliki (Uganda/
DRC).

We made substantial progress but will needmore time to reach the investment commitments of this target.

In the Puna region of the High Andes management and restoration actions implemented
with local communities and local government
have improved the status of 76,136 hectaresof peatbogs and grazing marshes in two internationally important wetland systems.
A second phase of this programme has been
secured that will expand the work in fivelocations and provide a springboard to work
regionally and leverage funds for large-scale
management and restoration in future.
In the Himalayas we started engaging in smaller initiatives with the development of a fuller
programme scheduled by the close of 2020.

In Kajiado County (Kenya) the local Water
Resource User Association has secured investment to improve the condition of theirwatershed.
In the Sebou basin (Morocco), we worked withWWF as part of a wider partnership to launcha water fund -- the first of its kind in the Mediterranean.
In other watersheds we have helped create
an enabling environment. We positively influenced the policy and planning in Uganda,
where all land titles in wetland areas havebeen cancelled, and in Debkhal Chaul basin,(India) where 15 villages have been engaged
in basin scale integrated risk management.

Investments in restoration and sustainable
management of highaltitude wetlands in 2
ecoregions committed
to by governments
and International
Finance Institutions.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Public and private investment commitments
in 6 watersheds tosafeguard and restore
freshwater wetlands as
measures for water andfood security.

In India, the set-up of a Ganges-wide wetlands
restoration programme under the National
Mission of Clean Ganga should lead to major
investment along this iconic river.
The Paraná-Paraguay Corridor programme(‘Corredor Azul’) piloted better livestockraising on 25,000 hectares. We produced anassessment of the impact of the ‘Hidrovía’scheme for improved navigation along theriver corridor which is used to influence investments towards a more positive result for
the river.
In the Philippines we piloted nature-based
solutions to reduce the risk of landslides,
erosion and flooding along the Agusan River
Basin. This is also being used to influencenational policy for integrated river basin management.

Public andprivate investmentcommitments for 3
flagship landscapescale floodplain restoration programmes

Wetlands Annual Review 201911

Vibrant Coasts and Deltas

Vibrant Coasts and Deltas

Vibrant Coasts and Deltas

Maintain intact
coastal wetland
environments

Sustainable
coastalproduction
systems

DegradedIntegrated
coastlines andmanagement ofheavily modified deltas
environments,
including urban
areas

We are on track in implementing coastal
wetland conservation strategies in Cacheu(Guinea-Bissau), Saloum-Niumi (Senegal andGambia) and the Rufiji- Mafia-Kilwa seascape(Tanzania), and other regions, covering an area
in excess of 150,000 hectares.

Our work on promoting sustainable production systems has made substantial progress,
as part of broader coastal zone management
initiatives.

We will exceed our target for uptake in threelarge-scale coastal planning initiatives.

In these regions, small scale community-based
conservation and livelihoods measures arebeing upscaled and management plans areunder development. Several of our corporate
partners have shown interest to support thedevelopment of carbon projects to resource
the conservation and restoration of mangroves
to compensate for their carbon footprint.
Among others we are exploring opportunities
for developing such projects in Guinea-Bissau
and Indonesia.

In Demak Indonesia, the introduction of sustainable aquaculture practice, following thelow external input sustainable aquaculture(LEISA) method increased household incomeof Indonesian farmers by 300% and reduced
impacts from habitat conversion and pollution. These areas have also become important
breeding areas for thousands of waterbirds,
especially herons.
Similar results have been attained with thepromotion of sustainable rice and cattle farming practices in West Africa and Argentina
respectively.

Our Building with Nature project in Indonesia
emerged as a landmark initiative that showshow ‘building with nature’ can boost coastal
resilience in rural and urban areas. Our outreach has stimulated commitments to invest
in nature-based solutions among national government and multilateral agencies, including
in Panama and the Philippines.
We engaged the interest of governments infive countries in Asia to develop an ambitious
programme that stimulates large-scale adoption of Building with Nature across the region.
This offers opportunities to upscale impact
beyond 2020.

Vibrant Coasts and Deltas

Action in ten key deltas is on track.
We participated in global and regional initiatives that promote sustainable managementof deltas and coastal areas. In coastal cities
including Semarang, Panama City and Manila,
we successfully integrated wetlands in urban
development and flood risk reduction plans.
In several rural deltas we developed integrated management plans that support conservation and restoration of wetland ecosystemand sustainable management of water flows,
including in the Paraná (Argentina), Rufiji (Tanzania) and Saloum (Senegal) deltas.
In 2019 we supported integration of wetland
conservation and restoration in the Manila Bay
master planning process.
With the Indonesian government we developed a roadmap to address soil subsidence
problems along the northern coast of Java.

High value coastal
wetlands totallingat least 150,000
hectares are conserved
and restored.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

A model for
integrated wetland
landscape management involving
conservation and production systems (rice,oil-palm and aquaculture) is implemented
in 2 areas, contributing to environmental
and food security.

Building with Nature
is mainstreamed in
3 landmark urban
planning and hydraulicinfrastructure developments, enhancing community resilience.

Healthy ecosystems
sustain human populations and biodiversity in 10 key deltas
across the world.

Wetlands Annual Review 201913

Peatland Treasures

Peatland Treasures

Peatland Treasures

Protect andconserve theremaining intact
peatlands

Rehabilitate
and restore
degradedpeatlands

We have made progress to influence policy
in four peatland regions. Together with theAlliance for Global Water Adaptation and GIZ
we developed guidance that provides governments with the building blocks to include wetlands in their UNFCCC Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDC) planning and reporting
and we will work with the NDC Partnershipand individual countries in 2020 to roll thisout.

Restoration to reverse degradation is progressing steadily in two major peatland regions andat smaller scale in others.

Develop andpromotesustainableland-use on
re-wetted
peatlands

In the Himalayas we mapped the presence ofpeat and used this to influence the Indian
government’s NDC.
We assessed the NDC potential of Nile Basin
wetlands as a contribution to a wider programme of work with governments in theregion.

Governments and key
private sector actors(drivers of conversion)
in at least 4 key peatland
regions have active policies to avoid the development, conversion anddegradation of intact
peatlands.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

We provided technical advice to the Russian
government regarding investments around
Moscow, where about 100,000 hectares ofpeat has been rewetted to reduce fire risk.
We supported the Indonesian Peatland Restoration Agency to restore more than 765,000
hectares through a mix of direct restorationand technical advice.
We supported canal blocking to rewet andrestore the Badas peat dome, Brunei, also
reducing fire risk. With the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil we delivered training forwise hydrological management of oil palm
plantations on peatland, however our roadmap
towards sustainable peatland management forpulp and paper plantations in Indonesia wasrejected by industry.

Governments andkey (peatland based)
private sector invest
in at least 5 peatland
regions have reversed
the degradation ofover 3 million hectares of degradedpeatlands (7% of the
global area of degrading peatlands) achieving substantial GHG
emission reductions.

Although substantial progress has been made,more time will be needed for widespread
uptake of paludiculture, or agriculture on wet
peatlands.
In Europe, we succeeded in our advocacy tohave paludiculture included in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy post-2020 definitions
which designates this as a supported land-use
in 27 countries.
Together with government and private sector
actors we established the Paludiculture Forumfor Southeast Asia and through this worked
with 350 households where villagers planted
250 hectares with sago in Indonesia.
The Indonesian Peatland Partnership Fund
(IPPF) resulted in a further 3500 hectares ofsustainable paludiculture development that
supported improved community livelihoods in
17 villages.
Governments and key(peatland based) private
sector (e.g. palm oil,pulp for paper, biofuels)
as well as local communities are actively piloting or upscaling paludiculture as an innovativemeans for sustainable
and peatland landscapemanagement and climate change mitigation.

Wetlands Annual Review 201915

Healthy Wetland Nature

Healthy Wetland Nature

Halt and reverse Investment in
the loss of
wetlands aswetland habitat natural capitaland species
We have made good progress in our contribution to halt and reverse the loss of iconic wetland habitat and species but need more timeto achieve the target.
In Indonesia, the Ministry of Environment andForestry adopted the International Waterbird
Census as the monitoring modality for protected areas.
With our advice and advocacy, the Indian Government’s National Action Plan for Conservation of Migratory Birds and their habitats along
the Central Asian flyway will steer action forconservation of iconic wetlands.
In the Inner Niger Delta in Mali we helped fourcommunities to establish plans that integrate
the need and potential for ecosystem restoration to support climate change adaptation.
In China, with national and international partners, we contributed to the ‘migratory bird
sanctuaries’ along the Yellow Sea coast to
Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I)” being formallydesignated as a World Natural Heritage site,
helping safeguard one of the largest intertidal
mudflat systems in the world.

The extent and quality of habitat has been
improved in 5 iconic
wetland ecoregions
worldwide and theconservation status of
10 flagship species has
been improved.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

We have seen encouraging achievements in2019 and are on track. We worked with key
platforms such as the Global Center for Adaptation and the Global Resilience Partnership tobuild political will and private sector interestin wetland nature-based solutions.
In Indonesia the government has invested
significantly in the ‘Building with Nature’ approach across the country to address coastal
erosion (see also Vibrant Coasts and Deltas,
pages 12-13).
In Argentina, an agreement was reached withthe government on the how to develop guidelines for environmental impact assessments
in wetland landscapes to reduce the impact of
infrastructure developments along the Corredor Azul.
Cagayan de Oro became the first city in thePhilippines to approve and adopt a river
basin-wide Payment for Ecosystem Services(PES) and annually earmark PHP 10 million to
support the rehabilitation of watersheds.
With The Nature Conservancy we developed
green infrastructure measures, including reforestation and constructed wetlands, in theUpper Juan Diaz basin that can reduce floodrisk in downstream neighbourhoods. These
were recognised by Panama City and a multilateral development bank as part of a larger$100 million investment.

Showcase public
and private investments in wetlands
as Natural Capitaldeliver sustainable
development.

Wetlands Annual Review 201917

Wetlands International
and partners commit
for transformation at UN
Climate Action Summit
The focus of the UN Climate Action Summit
in 2019 was to generate concrete proposals
that can be accelerated for climate action. UN
Secretary-General António Guterres called fortangible plans that will help countries reachthe scale and speed of mitigation, adaptation
and resilience needed to deal with the climate
emergency. The summit elevated politicalattention to the power of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for climate and sustainable development.
The CEO of Wetlands International, Jane Madgwick, was honoured to be an invited speakerin the Nature-based Solutions day of theSummit, where the NBS for Climate Manifesto was launched. She called attention to theneed and opportunities to focus on water andwetland NBS, alongside forests and introduced
Wetlands International’s ambitious plans withpartners to tackle land degradation and water
insecurity in the Sahel and to enhance coastal
resilience in Asia. These commitments areincluded in the nearly 200 initiatives and bestpractices from around the world, featured in
the NBS Contributions Platform.
The “Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel“ (BLiSS)
Wetinitiative, a broad collaboration led by Wet
lands International, involving the African Union Great Green Wall Initiative and CARE, aims
to enable investments and action to reviveand safeguard the region’s rivers, floodplains,lakes, deltas and ponds — improving waterand food security, restoring peace and building resilience for communities.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

The initiative will encourage countries and investors to put local communities and wetland
restoration at the heart of sustainable development and climate adaptation measures.
The aim is, by end 2030, to have restored andsafeguarded 20 million hectares of wetlands
in at least six major wetland systems, so improving the adaptive capacity and security ofaround 10 million people across the Sahel.
Building with Nature is a way of planning, designing and building coastal, river and delta
infrastructure that works with nature and natural processes rather than building in or fighting against nature. Buoyed by the successful
mainstreaming of Building with Nature inIndonesia, the partners for Building with Nature Asia’ are developing propositions for the
implementation of Building with Nature in 15
landscapes in five countries by 2030, boosting
the resilience of around 30 million people.
A Shared Ambition on ‘Accelerating Adaptation through Building with Nature in Asia’ waspresented by EcoShape and Wetlands International during the ‘Building a Resilient Future’
event on 22 September in New York, convenedby the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP).
During the GRP day of events, Wetlands International and One Architecture made publictheir joint commitment on climate-resilient
cities, working together to integrate wetlandsin the urban landscape. The overarching goal
is to build more resilient, and livable-, cities
across Asia.

With global emissions are reaching record levels and showing no signof peaking, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on all leaders
to come to New York on 23 September for the Climate Action Summit
with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined
contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by
45 per cent over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050.

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

19

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
No system of concrete coastal
defences is as cheap or
as effective as a belt of mangroves.
The Mangrove Capital Africa
programme works acrossthree major sites with the aim to
restore more than a million
hectares of African mangroves.
A joint management planfor the Rufiji delta, Tanzania,
puts villagers at its heart,creating a partnership in which
their skills and local agency canbe deployed for conservation.

RESTORING
MANGROVESBy Fred Pearce

Developing alternative livelihoods,
including oyster farming and honeyproduction, helps ease pressure on
the mangroves.

Mangroves are backwaters. Neither land nor ocean, they are
where seawater and freshwater, silt and salt, mingle in creeks
and swamps. To many, these ecological backwaters are seen
as economic and social backwaters too, ripe for economic
development to advance the lives of their inhabitants.
That is a big mistake, one that Wetlands International is
working hard to correct.
Ecologically, mangroves are immensely rich habitats, providing
valuable services. The tangled roots of most mangrove species
are nurseries for an estimated tenth of all marine life. And in aworld of ever more intense tropical storms, eroding currents andrising sea levels, their dense roots and foliage are vital defences
for the land against wind and waves.
Healthy functioning mangroves are vital habitats above and below water.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 201921

Mangrove kingfisher

Livelihoods, such as this fisher’s, depend on mangroves.

No system of concrete coastal defences is as cheap or
as effective as a belt of mangroves. No prawn pond is as
productive as the mangroves that they often replace. No
human-made fish nursery will deliver as much as a thicketof mangroves. And nobody knows how to conserve andprosper from mangroves as well as their inhabitants -- suchas the 48,000 people with whom we work in 19 villages
dotted across the Rufiji delta in Tanzania, East Africa’s largest mangrove forest.
“Everything in our lives depends on the mangroves,”
says Yusuph Salelie, the chair of the delta’s Mfisini
village. “Our houses are built of mangroves; the fish wecatch live in mangrove roots; the mangroves clean our air;
we even get salt from the mangrove areas.”
Through the centuries, Salelie’s people have learned how
to profit from those resources without destroying them.
But in recent times, this cut-off delta region has become
increasingly threatened by the modern world -- by mangrove cutting for timber, by rice farming, and by would-be
external investment for big farms and cattle ranching, urban development and harbours.
The delta’s villages have traditionally operated their own
laws for policing their mangroves and keeping outsiders
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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

away. “We used to designate where and how many trees
could be harvested,” Salelie says. It largely worked, as thesurvival of large areas of mangroves in the delta shows.
But he complains that his village committee, like the others in the delta, no longer has the legal power to prevent
outsiders from coming in. The Tanzanian government hasbanned all use of mangrove products. This makes villagers
and outsiders alike into outlaws. This, he says, is a mistake.
With the laws policed by a Forest Service that has only five
staff and a single fibreglass boat to cover the 53,000-hectare delta, the result is a legal vacuum. Tensions have risen.
In 2019, we were working to bridge the gap between theForest Service and the villagers, by bringing all sides together to draw up a joint management plan for the delta. It
will divide the delta into zones that will protect mangroves
while making sure villages can use the resources and sustain their livelihoods. Crucially, it will put the villagers at its
heart, creating a partnership in which their skills and local
agency can be deployed in the name of conservation.
And we want to go beyond conservation to restorationin the delta. In 2019, we began a pilot project for community-based ecological mangrove restoration, digging
channels to flood abandoned rice fields that have recently
Container vessel in port of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Rifiji delta region has become increasingly
threatened by urban development and harbours

Wetlands Annual Review 201923

Naturalrestoration
is muchmore
effectivethanplanting

been taken over by cattle herders. The aim is to scale thisup in 2020 to restore 200 hectares ourselves, and to train
villagers to do more. We are also working, initially with six
villages, on developing alternative livelihoods to ease pressure on the mangroves, including oyster farming and honeyproduction.
Our work on the Rufiji delta is the latest example of ourinnovative efforts to protect and restore mangroves acrossthe tropics. We have won a reputation for encouraging
natural regeneration rather than the planting projects more
widely adopted. Research has shown that planting mangroves has a very low success rate. Typically, 80 per cent ormore fail to grow, either because they are the wrong species or because coastal conditions are wrong.
“Natural restoration is much more effective thanplanting,” says our technical officer for deltas and coasts,
Menno de Boer. This is possible because in most mangrove
regions there are still fruits and propagules floating in
tidal waters. Given the chance, they will settle in the mud
and grow of their own accord. Our aim is to give them thatchance, through ecosystem management that reduces
erosion, prevents the encroachment of aquaculture, andprovides a stable coastline for regeneration.

We combine this knowhow with incentivising communities
to protect the spaces where the mangroves can grow, byoffering a deal in which communal work on ecosystemmanagement is recompensed with microcredit and training
for local development projects.
Our flagship programme is Mangrove Capital Africa, aten-year initiative we began with DOB Ecology, a Dutch
environmental philanthropy group. It builds on a three-year
project in the Cacheu River National Park in Guinea Bissau,
funded by the Turing Foundation, which has the largest
dense assemblage of mangroves in West Africa, and inwhich several hundreds of mangroves have been restored.
With this new initiative, the work is upscaled to the Saloum
Delta on the border between Senegal and Gambia, as wellas the Rufiji Delta in Tanzania.
An assessment during the year found that more than
11,000 people in the Saloum delta had increased theirincomes thanks to credit we advanced for small-scale projects such as beekeeping and home gardening activities. In
return they abandoned over-fishing and excessive harvesting of many mangroves for firewood.
To bolster public support for this work, we reached moreof the 100,000 people living in and around the Saloum

One of the values of mangroves is that they function as fish nurseries.
Wetlands Annual Review 201925

Everythingin our lives
depends
on themangroves

ANNADEL SALVIO CABANBANPROGRAMME MANAGER ‘PARTNERS FOR RESILENCE’ - PHILIPPINESHEAD OF OFFICE PHILIPPINES

Who is Annadel Cabanban?
I’m the eldest of six kids, and so I have five younger brothers and sisters. I’m happy that I am back in the Philippines
and I can now celebrate birthdays with them. I worked
in academia until 2016. Afterwards, I started working fornon-governmental organisations in both Malaysia and thePhilippines. I have also worked for the United Nations Environment Programme in Thailand and the United Nations
Office for Project Services in the Philippines.

delta during 2019 through our promotion of theatre, environment clubs in schools and community radio to raiseawareness about the value of mangroves, and instil pride inthis natural heritage. More than 50 radio programmes werebroadcast on 12 stations.
The ultimate aim of Mangrove Capital Africa is to increase
the ecological, social and economic value of more thana million hectares of African mangroves. We have global
ambitions too. In 2019, with partners including NASA andgeographers at Aberystwyth University in Wales, we published a series of maps of the world’s mangroves and theirhealth. The maps have already been used to devise more
restoration plans and to help countries report progress towards achieving several Sustainable Development Goals.
For too long, mangroves have been ecological backwaters,
ignored by forest and marine conservation communities
alike. We are changing that.

Partners
Aberystwyth University
The Nature Conservancy(TNC)
soloEONASAJAXA
The CSO platform
University of Dakar
The Tanzania Forest Service
DonorsTuring Foundation
Waterloo Foundation
Otter fonds
Oak foundation
DOB Ecology
For the entire list see Annex

26

Wetlands Annual Review 2019As a marine biologist, I feel honoured to be working in thePhilippines on coastal and marine conservation, especiallyas I am a recipient of scholarships from the Philippines andAustralia. Working for Wetlands International fits well withmy philosophy, as it is an organisation that builds links
between science and policy, and that has a mission to conserve wetlands for people and nature.
On a personal note, I enjoy reading autobiographies andwatching courtroom dramas like Suits. This is my evening
reward. I also like jazz. My favourite artists are Wynton Marsalis, Ella Fitzerald, and Serafia. They are all great to me.
What was the most significant successyou had in 2019 in the project?
Our most significant success was incorporating the ‘Building with Nature’ approach as part of the integrated coastalmanagement for the northern part of Manila Bay. This
intervention in the northern part of Manila Bay is part ofthe draft Manila Bay Sustainable Development Masterplan.
There is a wide expanse of wetlands there, like mudflats
and mangrove forests.
Unfortunately, they are heavily disturbed. Building with
Nature, will protect parts of the coastline, prevent flooding,restore habitats of water birds and migratory birds, andrehabilitate habitats of fish, shrimps, shellfish, and crabs
that are important for food. Because of our success with
this, we are hopeful that the northern part of Manila Bay,
which has a breathtaking amount of biodiversity, especiallyof migratory birds, will be invested in by the public andprivate sectors.
What are your goals for 2020?
In 2020, I would like us to strengthen some of the river basin management councils in the Philippines. We can do thisby providing them with the necessary business-planningskills so that they can raise funds for their respective integrated management plans. The goals of management plans
is to rehabilitate the watershed so that it will continue tostore water, reduce risks to flooding and landslides, andprovide clean water to drink and to grow food.
What is your favourite species?
I have several favourite species, depending on the wetland.
But if I had to pick one, it would be the angelfish. They’recolourful and beautiful.

Wetlands Annual Review 201927

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The rewetting of the Orshinsky
Mokh peatland, Russia, means it
is no longer a fire hazard.
Katingan, Indonesia, one of theworld’s largest peat-swamp
forests with rich biodiversity,
has become a showcase as theIndonesian government plans to
restore 2.4 million hectares ofdamaged peatlands by the endof 2020.
We worked with UN Food andAgriculture Organization
on strategies for ‘wet agriculture’on peat that minimises damage
from drainage.

PEATLANDSWILL SAVE
THE WORLD
By Fred Pearce

The Orshinsky Mokh peatland is wet again. In 2019, after five
years of effort, water levels have risen by a metre across an areaof 65 square kilometres. It has been a triumph of ecologicalrestoration. Like many other peatlands in the region around
Moscow that had been partially drained for peat extraction,
the bog had become a major fire hazard after extractors
abandoned large areas in the early 1990s.
“They used to have fires here all the time,” said Professor
Vladimir Panov of the Tver State Technical University,
who devised the rehabilitation of Orshinsky Mokh.
“It was dry here till a year ago,” he said as we watchedbulldozers move peat to block another drainage canal.
“Now you can see the soil is getting waterlogged again.
The reeds are new; sphagnum is spreading too.”
The wet Orshinsky Mokh near Moscow, Russia

28

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 201929

Tatiana Minayeva, project coordinator, PeatRus and Wetlands International
Associate Expert

His work was part of a project to block hundreds of kilometres of drains, supervised by Wetlands International andknown as “restoring peatlands in Russia”, or PeatRus. The
initial aim was to prevent a repetition of devastating peatland fires during the summer of 2010, by rewetting some
410 square kilometres of drained peatlands. Over the past
decade, the vulnerability to fire has been reduced fourfold,
and the mire has been put on a path to full restoration ofits biodiversity and ability to store carbon, says Tatiana
Minayeva, the project coordinator.
With new international funding agreed in 2019, the plan is
now to wet a total of 1400 square kilometres, with full ecological restoration of 350 square kilometres.
From the snow-covered boreal peatlands of Russia to theswamp forests of the tropics, peat bogs are among theworld’s largest natural stores of carbon – the result ofvegetation accumulated in boggy ground over thousandsof years. But they are menaced by agricultural drains, peatmining, forestry and overgrazing. Peatlands damaged byhuman activity already emit up to 8% of all anthropogenic
greenhouse-gas emissions. Unless protected and restored,
peatlands threaten to unleash carbon dioxide over the
coming decades that could cause runaway climate change.
So beside our work in Russia, we have been busy restoring
peatlands across the world. In Mongolia, we have been

helping herders restore their pastures and protect springs
as water sources. In Borneo we have been masterminding
the protection of one of Indonesia’s largest intact peatswamps in the face of encroaching loggers and palm oilcompanies, and in 2019 achieved success in restoring water levels on the Badas peat dome in Brunei, after blocking
drainage canals. In Peru and Argentina we are beginningwork on improving 760 square kilometres of high altitude
peat bogs. Everywhere our work also involves securing the
livelihoods of grazers and other people who use and harvest them.

Eriophorum angustifolium, commonly known as common cottongrass is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family, Cyperaceae. Native to North America, North Asia,
and Northern Europe, it grows on peat or acidic soils, in open wetland, heath or moorland.

-In early 2019, a dry El-Niño year on the tropical island of
Borneo, there were huge fires extending across thousandsof square kilometres of forests and peatlands. But they did
not take hold in Katingan, on the south of the island, where
for the past five years we have been providing technicalinput to protect 150,000 hectares of forested swamp. Twosmall fires crossed into the project area, but were swiftly
doused by some of the 500 local villagers trained as firefighters under the project. It was a small but significant
triumph.

The primary purpose of the Katingan conservation projectis to lock up carbon. It is funded by carbon credits soldTver oblast peatland in Russia during winter restoration activities.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 201931

Unless
protected
and restored
peatlands
threatento unleash
emissionsthat could
accelerate
climatechangeto polluters to offset their emissions. But for the project,
the area would have been turned into an industrial timber
plantation. “The forests would have been destroyed andthe peat swamps drained,” says David Stone of Permian
Global, which manages the project in partnership with Wetlands International and others. Stopping that prevented therelease in to the atmosphere each year of an estimated 7.5
million tonnes of carbon dioxide – some from deforestation
but most from the gradual oxidation of the drained peat.
The carbon credits represent that gain.
Happily, there is a major ecological gain too. Protecting oneof the world’s largest peat-swamp forests and the several
endangered species that live there in large numbers, including 3500 orangutans, 10,000 gibbons and 500 proboscis monkeys.
The year 2019 saw the project achieve financial security
when Volkswagen and other companies bought its credits. But to ensure that the carbon stays put for centuries
to come, it also needs acceptance from the 40,000 or soDayaks and others who grow rice, tap rubber and cultivate
rattan in the surrounding forests. To that end, project managers from Permian Global have sought agreements withthe 34 surrounding villages, ensuring their land rights andhelping them grow crops sustainably, as well as recruiting
them as firefighters for the project.

Beside its own successes, it has become a showcase forwhat can be achieved as the Indonesian government develops its own ambitions to restore 2.4 million hectares ofdamaged peatlands by the end of 2020.
-Peatlands make up only around 3% of the world’s land
surface, but they contain twice as much carbon as theworld’s forests. The importance of their conservation andrestoration is increasingly recognised in international climate negotiations. Indonesia and Russia, which ratified the2015 Paris agreement on fighting climate change in 2019,are among countries that plan to incorporate peatland protection and restoration into their emissions reduction strategies. During 2019, we helped both countries to develop
methodologies for accurately calculating emissions frompeatlands; and we provided technical expertise to help
more nations join them.
Countries with great potential to benefit include Mongolia, where extensive peatlands overlaying permafrost aredisappearing rapidly due to overgrazing, mining and agricultural expansion. We recently completed work with local
herders there, piloting how to restore peat on their pastures. Further monitoring of this restoration, including its
impact on carbon balance, integrated with a strategic planfor peatland in Mongolia we have also developed, will help

Protecting the Katingan peatswamp forest, Indonesia, has meant securing habitat for 3500 orangutans, 10,000 gibbons and 500 proboscis monkeys.
Wetlands Annual Review 201933

Agriculture
can makeuse ofpeatlands
without
draining

TITUS WAMAEREGIONAL POLICY AND ADVOCACY OFFICEROFFICE: EASTERN AFRICA

such projects to be included in the country’s future climatechange commitments.
Many peatlands are unlikely ever to be given over entirely
to nature. So an important aspect of successful peatland
conservation is finding ways to make productive agricultural use of them without draining. In 2019, we worked with
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on strategies
for helping peatland people grow new “wet crops”, a technique known as paludiculture.
Wet crops can include reeds for biomass burning, moss forhorticulture, and in tropical regions such as Indonesia thecultivation of medicinal plants. One enticing possibility is
growing swamp jelutung, a tree that produces a latex valuable in dentistry and for making chewing gum. It is reckoned
to be potentially a more valuable crop than oil palm.
During the year, we worked to include incentives for paludiculture in the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, where drained peatlands contribute up to a quarter of agricultural emissions; in Russia, where we organiseda round table to further ideas; and in Indonesia, where thegovernment’s peatland restoration plans are unlikely to
succeed without considering the needs of locals.

Partners
Greifswald University
Institute of Forest Science
Michael Succow Foundation
Ministry of Natural Resourcesand environment of RussianFederation
Mongolian Academy of
Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Mongolian Ministry ofEnvironment and Tourism
DonorsInternational Climate Initiative of the Federal Ministry
for the Environment
Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction funds Managed by
the Asian Development Bank
Nature Conservation and
Nuclear Safety, the funds
managed by the KFW bank
For the entire list see Annex

34

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Who is Titus?
My name is Titus Wamae. I work for Wetlands International as the Regional Policy and Advocacy Officer in Eastern
Africa supporting programmes in South-Sudan, Tanzania,
Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda since 2016. The programmes
include Partners for Resilience (PfR) II, Watershed-Empowering Citizens, and Mangrove Capital Africa among others.
I am a certified Environmental Impact Assessment/Audit
Expert and hold a Master’s Degree in Environmental Law,
Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science anda PGD Environmental Journalism and Communication.
Currently I am enrolled for a PhD in Environmental Law at
the University of Nairobi. In 2010, I was honoured with theprestigious Kenya Head of State’s Commendation (HSC)
presidential award by the President of the Republic of Kenya as recognition by the state for my contribution to environmental conservation and community development.
What was your biggest personal
work achievement in 2019?
I facilitated the establishment of Kinnaite Wetlands Working Group (KWWG) in Torit State in South Sudan. This is amulti-stakeholder forum that provides a platform to discuss
wetlands management issues affecting the Kinnaite Watershed. The forum is comprised of representatives from senior Torit State government officials; members of the Healthand Environment Committee of Torit State Legislative

Assembly; civil society organisations such as Eye of Mercy,
the War Widow Women Association; NGOs, the youth (monyimijis) president; community representatives from nine
payams/villages; and the private sector.
KWWG is chaired by the Director General, State Ministryof Health and Environment and acts as the steering committee for the development of the Kinnaite Wetlands Management Plan to ensure sustainable wise use the Kinnaite
wetlands resources.
What is the nicest thing about
working at Wetlands International?
One of the things I love at Wetlands International is that weshare a lot of information and knowledge with each otheraround the network. There is always someone available for
consultation on a specific topic. Another thing is that wework with a clear focus, vision and mission.
What do you want to achieve in 2020?
The PfR programme ends in 2020. My main achievement
would be my contribution in building community resilience against disasters and livelihood improvement in PfR
focus areas in Kenya, South Sudan, and the Horn of Africa
through community institutional and capacity strengthening, lobbying and advocacy on policy formulation and implementation, risk-sensitive investments and practice.
Wetlands Annual Review 201935

Early warning tool
predicts conflicts linked
to wetland degradation
What if we could predict and prevent violent
conflicts linked to water insecurity and wetland degradation? Wetlands International ispart of the Water, Peace and Security Partnership, which in December 2019, launched agroundbreaking new tool (WPS) with this very
aim, predicting the risk of violent conflicts
connected with water, up to 12 months in advance.
The WPS Global Early Warning Tool, launchedat the World Meteorological Organization in
Geneva in the presence of Sigrid Kaag, Dutch
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development
Cooperation, uses machine learning to forecast exactly where organised violence is likely
to occur. It will support development, disaster
response and defense experts to help defuse
conflicts before blood is shed.
Water scarcity can multiply
potential for conflict
Rising water insecurity, resulting from growing
demands for water and poor water management, as well as more uncertain rainfall due toclimate change, is certainly not the only driverof conflict, but it is an important and often
overlooked one. A quarter of the world’s population lives in extremely water-stressed areas.
Water scarcity, pollution and floods, can multiply the potential for conflict between different
groups of people who use the same natural
resources. Tensions rise as people fight for
their livelihoods, to protect their families, theircrops or herds. Conversely, conflict resolution
measures that help communities to share land
and water resources can help to restore peace.
Previous early warning tools have only focused on vulnerabilities such as political,

economic, social and demographic factors to
predict conflict. The WPS Global Early Warning Tool is unique because it combines thesefactors with environmental variables linked towater, such as rainfall, water scarcity and crop
failures, to understand the full picture.
Jane Madgwick, CEO, Wetlands International,
who spoke alongside Minister Kaag at theevent said: “Healthy ecosystems like wetlands
underpin community livelihoods and jobs inthe most water-stressed countries. Keeping
these wetlands in good condition helps tosustain human well-being and peace. Understanding the dynamics of how people interact
with ecosystems is key because if certain
thresholds, like water flows, are crossed thenthis can start to diminish the natural productivity and so trigger local tensions. Predictive
tools like WPS Global Early Warning Tool are
effective when used in conjunction with cultural and scientific knowledge on ecosystem
functionality. That is why this project involves
a broad partnership of organisations and combines insights not only from the sky but also
from the ground. ”
WPS partners
The Water, Peace and Security (WPS) Partnership involves six partners: IHE Delft, World
Resources Institute, Deltares, The Hague
Centre for Strategic Studies, Wetlands International and International Alert. It is fundedby the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The initiative is intended to become an open
network that can bring together knowledge,
capacities and activities directed at scaling
up preventative action in the context of water
stress-induced conflict, migration, or otherforms of social destabilisation.

The Sahel is one of the regions where the Early warning tool can be highly valuable.
36

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 201937

The Supervisory Council and Board of Association met
twice in full session during the year, once in the Netherlands in June and a second time in Kerala, India, at the invitation of Wetlands International South Asia in November.

Wetlands International Management Team (MT) and Supervisory Council (SC), from left to right: Hasting Chikoko (SC), Richard Holland (MT), Ron van Leeuwen (MT),Jane Madgwick (MT), Eliot Taylor (SC), Kazuaki Hoshino (SC), André van der Zande (SC), Angelique van de Beeten (SC).

FROM THE
SUPERVISORY COUNCILIn Kerala we saw the crucial importance of the coastal lagoon systems in protecting settlements against sea level
rise and in reducing the impact of inland flooding that
result from heavy monsoon rains. We discussed with local
stakeholders the challenges of accommodating a growing
population in this coastal zone and the opportunity thatnature tourism provides. Kerala offered an amazing mix
of sensations, including the calmness of a boating tripon the Kerala backwaters and an inspiring climb to the
Jatayu Rock that showed the interconnectedness of nature,
mythological history and art. I was proud to see the crucial
and respected role our South Asia team plays in India inmany wetland management plans. We also met the South
Asia Board and exchanged experiences and ideas for thedevelopment of Wetlands International in the region andglobally.
The revision of the Wetlands International strategic intent
for the period 2020-2030 was a key item in 2019 involving
consultations and inputs from around the network and awide range of stakeholders. It was also an important year
in that the Wetlands International mission was changed to,‘we inspire and mobilise society to safeguard and restore
wetlands for people and nature’ to reflect better the rolethat the network plays. On recommendation of the Supervisory Council and Board of Association, the General Members Meeting in December endorsed these key changes.
The Supervisory Council also supported the set-up of a
new network management team, including heads of offices, and the recruitment of two new functions: Director forOperations and Network Development, and Director for
Resources Directors in the global office. We know that thepersonal capacities and dedication of our staff is our greatest asset.
During the year we were fortunate to welcome Carlos
Saavedra, Maggie White and Hastings Chikoko as newmembers of the Supervisory Council and Board of Association bringing with them many years of high-level work in
the conservation, development and water arenas. Inevitably we also said goodbye to our friends Dan Martin, Gonzalo Castro, and Eduard Ayensu who completed their terms as
members. Their wise counsel, enthusiasm for wetlands andgood spirits will be missed.
We are all looking forward to the coming decade of actionin which we all do our utmost to safeguard and restore wetlands for people and nature.

Andre van der Zande, Chair

It is the job of the Supervisory Council and Board of Association
to oversee and guide implementation of the strategic intent, theannual plan and budget, membership relations, finance and risk
management, and CEO performance. Although a seemingly dry
list of responsibilities, being a member is a rich experience thatenables us to see projects, to manage and restore wetlands atfirst hand, to meet people who benefit from healthy wetlands,
and to interact with staff and stakeholders around the world. As
Chair since 2015 I have seen a remarkable progress in how theorganisation performs. Our network is developing fast and weare seizing opportunities to scale-up the impact of our work.
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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands International Supervisory Council and Management Team meet fishers at the coast of the local community in Kerala, India. From left to right Prof J K Garg
(Treasurer, Wetlands International South Asia Society), Dr Sidharth Kaul (President), Prof C K Varshney (Member, Governing Body), Prof E J James (member, Governing
Body) and Ritesh Kumar (Director, South Asia).
Wetlands Annual Review 201939

pecially at this time when the organisation is looking into
a focus on cities. Urbanisation and the consequential land
use options are putting pressure on wetlands in urban areas and I felt a call of duty to do something. I am convincedthat mismanagement of wetlands is one of the root causesof climate risks in cities and that should not happen under
any mayor’s watch.
How do you see the safeguarding and restoration of
wetlands contributing to the battle against impacts ofclimate change in cities?
The organisation I work for partnered with other climatechange organisations and published a report: The Future
We Don’t Want, outlining how climate change could impact
the world’s greatest cities. While urban population continues to grow, climate hazards are increasingly threatening
cities and urban residents, through increasing inland andcoastal flooding, as well as prolonged heat waves and fires.
Cities are under pressure to invest in adaptation measuresthat safeguard people, assets and services. Before considering such investments, I believe it is wise for cities tofirst look at what they have – including assets and services
that are provided by nature. Nature-based solutions havepotential to address urban challenges and improve thewell-being of urban residents in a cost-effective way.

This brings me to the role of wetlands in addressing climatechange impacts in cities. I always tell mayors that bettermanaged wetlands provide flood defence similar to expensive dykes and dredges. There is uncontested evidence
that wetlands slow the flow of water which, among otherbenefits, results in the reduction of flood damage in cities.
And this is in addition to the health impacts derived fromthe way wetlands purify urban run-off water and, of course,
the aesthetic value that a birdwatcher like me look for whenchoosing where I should live. I therefore would like to see
mayors, urban professionals and businesses increasingly
recognise that wetlands are not just another vacant land forthe next commercial or housing development project.
What do you see as the role for wetlands international ina highly competitive and crowded urban space?
The urban space may look crowded but there is more work
to be done to achieve sustainable and resilient cities. I
see a key role for Wetlands International to place the best
available science and knowledge in the hands of mayors
and city officials. This will inspire sound urban policies andregulations so that urban economies can derive maximum
value from wetlands. Wetlands International can also help
in bringing cities’ voices to international policy making
platforms that it has access to.

HASTINGS CHIKOKO
SUPERVISORYCOUNCIL MEMBER
Could you tell us a bit about your background?
How did you come to be a cities and climate expert?
I am an economist who specialised in green economy because I believe that a healthy economy needs a healthyplanet. I worked for many years with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya and at
IUCN Headquarters in Switzerland. It was at IUCN where
I came acquainted with the work of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) anddeveloped the passion to work on climate change issues.
Looking at the trends in urbanisation, I noticed that theworld gets almost 67 million new urban dwellers every
year. It became evident to me that our future is urban andthe battle on climate change will be won or lost in cities. I
became convinced that it is important to cascade support

to city governments to enable them pursue low-carbon
and resilient growth pathways. This is what motivated me
to join C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and even understand urbanism better by studying more on cities at the
London School of Economics (LSE Cities).
What brought you to your role as supervisory council
member with wetlands international?
First, I am a birdwatcher - so anything that brings me andmy binocular closer to wetlands is appealing. When theopportunity to contribute to the work of Wetlands International presented itself, I did not even think twice.
I feel that given my collaboration and conversations witha big network of mayors and urban professionals, I cancontribute to Wetlands International’s strategic intent esThe city of Johannesburg.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 201941

Local man of Gede Pangrango fishing in the lake using a traditional net in Java, Indonesia.

MICHAEL SUCCOWFOUNDER, MICHAEL SUCCOM FOUNDATION AND PARTNER IN THE GREIFSWALD MIRE CENTRE

Ramsar Partners for
Wetlands call for a
specific programme on
wetland restoration
As the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration was
declared by the UN General Assembly in 2019, Ramsar
International Organisation Partners (IOPs), including
Wetlands International, called for a specific programme on
Wetland Restoration as part of it. By restoring, conserving,
and wisely using our wetlands we can make significant
contributions to The Global Goals.
The Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to massively
scale up the restoration of degraded and destroyed
ecosystems as a proven measure to fight the climate crisisand enhance food security, water supply and biodiversity.
Ramsar IOPs highlighted how natural wetlands havedeclined across inland, coastal and marine habitats, withserious impacts for people on food security, fisheries,
water provision for agriculture and domestic needs, andas natural protection from storms and floods. All wetland42

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

dependent animal and plant species have also been
affected. Wetland loss also influences our ability to store
carbon and support broader climate adaptation.
With the call Ramsar IOPs urged governments to give
special attention to wetlands.
“We must reverse the decline of natural wetlands, andone key strategy to do that is to restore wetlands andtheir functions as a key ally to adapt to climate change
impacts, and to help store carbon.”
The Ramsar IOPs are:
BirdLife International
The International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Wetlands International, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Who is Michael Succow?
I was born in 1941 and grew up on a farm in Brandenburg(East Germany). While studying biology, I became a passionate peatland ecologist and had to witness the drainageof vast mire landscapes in Northeastern Germany in the
1970s/80s. In 1990, I managed to secure almost 10% ofGerman Democratic Republic territory as protected areas,
literally in the last moment before Germany’s reunification.
For this coup, I was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in
1997. With the prize I founded the Michael Succow Foundation (MSF) for the Protection of Nature in 1999, which meansthat we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the foundationin 2019.
Why did the Michael Succow
Foundation become a member?
MSF as partner in the Greifswald Mire Centre engages
strongly in peatland conservation and restoration, but also inpromoting them in policy making. We see the strength of a
network like WI-EA to join forces with coordinated action towards policy makers in the EU and its’ Member States. Peatlands are still underrepresented in most of the platforms, wewant to change this together with strong allies!
What’s been your biggest success in 2019?
Hard to say, there were so many peaty highlights in 2019:from discovering new peatlands in Eastern Africa, establishing a large cattail plantation for paludiculture, high attention
on peatlands at the UNFCCC Climate Summit in Madrid to aworkshop to discuss European peatland strategies with participants from 11 EU-Member States and beyond. Peatlands
are getting out of the niche and receive the recognition they
deserve. And last but not least, we celebarated the foundation’s 20th anniversary with a big event in Greifswald!
What would you like to see achieved forthe post-2020 biodiversity framework?
Mass extinction is reality due to overexploitation of nature,
habitat loss and climate change. Conservation and restoration, but also more sustainable land use should be top on of
the agenda. Peatlands are among the most vulnerable ecosystems with the highest proportion of degradation. Numerous species specially adapted to the wet conditions are on
the brink of extinction and the carbon storage is dissolved,
contributing to accelerated climate change. There is only
one message: Peatlands must be wet!
What would you like to see Wetlands International
and its members achieve in 2020?
Bringing wetlands and peatlands even higher on the politicaland social agenda, especially in this decisive year on the
EU Biodiversity Strategy, the global biodiversity framework,
but also in the EU’s common agricultural policy and the EU
Green Deal. Environmental problems don’t fade away inthese times of a pandemic but they should become evenmore prominent as we see how vulnerable we are as humanbeings. We have to tackle these issues not for the sake ofnature, but for our own sake!
Wetlands Annual Review 201943

The Roundtable on Sustainable
Palm Oil adopts standards tolimit peatland degradation
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil(RSPO) has adopted new standards on peatland draining, developed in partnership with
Wetlands International, to help curb the degradation of peatswamps that would contributesignificantly to greenhouse gas emissions.
The RSPO, a trade body that certifies palm oil
across 3.89 million hectares in south America,
west Africa and Indonesia, will use the drainability assessment (DA) procedure to assess
the potential for replanting based on groundwater levels and drainage possibilities.
Dipa Rais, Technical Officer Hydrology at Wetlands International Indonesia, who workedon the assessment with the RSPO since 2017
said: “Global production of, and demand for,palm oil has increased rapidly in the last
decade. A huge part of it comes from drained
peatlands. Without careful planning for the
future of these peatlands, reaching drainability limit will be inevitable along with numerous
associated damages.”“The official adoption of the assessment cancontribute in preventing future irreversible
damage to hydrology, ecology and economyof peatlands and communities at landscapescale. Permanent flooding, salt water intrusion,
pyrite oxidation and increased management
costs, are just few examples of these foreseeable harm,” he added.
Going up in smoke
The major issue with draining peat for growing
palm oil is that the peat, comprising partiallydecayed plant material, oxidises as it dries
out, releasing the carbon into the air as carbon
dioxide. This causes the land to subside and isa major source of emissions.

Over 25 years a hectare of oil palm plantationon peat will emit more than 2000 tonnes ofcarbon dioxide amounting to about 500
million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year inIndonesia alone -- more than half the country’s total emissions, according to Kristell Hergoualc’h, a scientist at the Centre forInternational Forestry Research (CIFOR).
The problem is made worse by fire – either
those that occur naturally, or those that are deliberate to clear existing forests. Wet peat does
not burn because the moist conditions preventoxidation and keeps fires from starting.
New threats to Indonesia peatland
But, while the RSPO has taken positive steps
to curb peatland degradation through drainage, peatland in Indonesia, in particular, is facing a new threat. The Indonesian government’s
relaxation of regulation protecting carbonrich peat landscapes now only requires land
concession holders to maintain the water table in the highest point of a peat dome. Areas
with a peat depth of less 3m are now exempt
from having to use the drainability assessment
procedure. The resulting peatland degradation
is expected to jeopardise the goal set by theIndonesian Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG)
to restore 2.4 million hectares of peatlands by
2020.
Paludiculture as an alternative
Plantations that must be phased out under thedrainability assessment guidelines can either
be phased out or transition to paludiculture,
the cultivation of more water-tolerant crop
types such as sago without major degradation
to the peat.

Plantations of oil palm, for which natural peat swamps are drained across the tropics, dramatically reduce the coverage of these rich wetland ecosystems.
They are a major driver of the loss of tropical peatlands globally and threaten their biodiversity and carbon storage.
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Wetlands
on fireFires can occur naturally in different ecosystems and in some circumstances are considered a vital natural process. But, when they are
explosive, pervasive, persistent and unprecedented in magnitude, it signals a worrying
shift.
2019 was the year that saw a lethal combination of El Niño weather pattern, rising temperatures, severe drought and the increased
lighting of fires to clear land for agricultural
expansion contribute to raging fires acrossIndonesia, Australia, the Pantanal and the Amazon. Millions of hectares burned, with a devastating effect on wildlife, nature and people
across whole continents.
The world’s largest wetland, the Pantanal, has
suffered a three-fold increase in outbreaks,
than in 2018. The Brazilian Pantanal was hit byunprecedented fires that engulfed at least 2.4
million hectares across the region in Octoberand November 2019, with second and third
outbreaks up to early 2020, when fires were
finally extinguished due to rain. Wetlands
International called on government agencies
and communities to work together to solve
this situation.

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Equally concerning are the fires affecting peatlands, such as in Indonesia. The drying out ofpeatlands through drainage makes them especially fire-prone, and ignition can result in theemission of vast quantities of carbon dioxide,
as well as impacting biodiversity and causing
human widespread health hazards.
Attention is now turning to fire prevention
through the rewetting of drained peatlands.
In Russia, millions of hectares of drained andabandoned peatlands are vulnerable to fires,such as those that covered Moscow in smoke
during the extremely dry summer of 2010.
Since then some 410 square kilometres ofdrained peatlands have been rewetted (seepages 29-30). And, over the past decade, thevulnerability to fire has been reduced fourfold,
and the area put on a path to full restorationof its biodiversity and ability to store carbon.
Wetlands, packed with layers of soaking peat
and topped with living moss, can play a heroicpart in curbing the effects of global climatechange, but only if we protect those thatremain and bring back the ones we humans
have already damaged and destroyed.

Wetlands Annual Review 201947

STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe Parana delta’s hydrology is
economically and ecologicallyimportant. It sustains
ranching, fishing, beekeeping,handicrafts, tourism and recreation.
Ranching should be done in a waythat does not damage the wider
ecosystem services of the delta.
Wetlands International encourages
ranchers to move their cattle withthe water and take advantage ofthe flood pulse to improve thequality of pastures.
Hidrovia, a planned shipping
highway, poses a “big threat”
to these wetlands.

SHIFTING
DEVELOPMENT NORMS:
PARANÁ DELTA
By Fred Pearce

Buenos Aires is spreading. The Argentinian metropolis has apopulation of more than 13 million, and is pushing out acrossits hinterland on the Paraná Delta at the mouth of the Plata
estuary, draining the delta as it goes. Meanwhile, ranchers haverelocated their cattle from the grasslands of the pampas onto
the delta. Wetlands International has been working in 2019with the delta’s inhabitants and regulators to turn this humanand livestock tide, and protect one of South America’s mostimportant wetlands.
The Paraná Delta covers 1.7 million hectares, the size ofNorthern Ireland. It is the endpoint of the Paraguay-Paraná river
system, which drains a huge area of South America, including
all of Paraguay, and much of Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina. Its
freshwater marshes, widely used for cattle grazing, are dottedwith islands where most of its more than 40,000 inhabitants live.
The freshwater marshes of the Paraná Delta are widely used for cattle grazing.

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Thousands of fishing livelihoods depend on the health of the Paraná Delta.

The delta has more than 30 protected areas. In 2016, thegovernment designated more than 240,000 hectares for a
new Ramsar site. In August, we published a management
plan for the site, developed with the government. We also
launched with local partners a strategy for maintaining a
biodiversity corridor through the delta, to connect protected areas and maintain passage for native species such as
the critically endangered marsh deer (see Saving the MarshDeer, page 75).
But piecemeal protection is not enough when the entire
hydrology of the delta is under threat and when ranchersand developers see its very wetness as an impediment.
Land-filling, sand mining, and the construction of dikes,
homes, industry, ports and other infrastructure, are all gathering pace. Such developments are short-sighted. For thedelta’s hydrology is economically as well as ecologicallyimportant. It sustains fishing, hunting of coypu, beekeeping,handicrafts made from its rushes, tourism and recreation.
An economic assessment we commissioned concluded that
80% of the direct economic benefit came from cattle raising, which is of growing importance as traditional grazing
lands on the pampas are taken over by soy crops. But it also
found that the indirect value of ecosystem services, such as
flood control and buffering against storms, was four times
higher. That means ranching needs to be carried out in a
way that does not damage the wider services.

So how to do it? We have explored this during 2019 bydeveloping with the National Ministry of Environment a
handbook on how to draw up environmental impact assessments for development projects in wetland ecosystems.

Plans for the Hidrovia Waterway have been revived in 2019. This would make a shipping highway 50 metres wide from the Pantanal to the ocean. It is a major
threat to the Paraná Delta.

Most ranchers have traditionally practiced “island ranching”, releasing their cattle onto the unfenced marshes forfattening in summer. That works fine. But in recent years,
ranchers have increased their stocking rates in the delta,
leading to overgrazing and soil erosion. Worse, they haveconstructed dams and dikes to divert water and prevent
their grazing land from being flooded.
Such works clearly damage the delta. So, we are encouraging ranchers to adapt to the wetland hydrology, by moving
their cattle with the water. “Instead of decoupling the farmland from the wetland, we want them to take advantageof the flooding pulse to improve the quality of forage andpastures,” says Ruben Quintana from the National University of San Martin.
In 2019, we piloted this new approach with seven ranchers
operating on 14,000 hectares across the delta. The ranches
range in size from an 8500-hectare estate on one of the
Ibicuy islands, to 120 hectares near Gualeguay.
At a workshop we organised in August, producer Carlos
Weber summarised the dilemma that ranchers face beThe Paraná Delta sustains livelihoods from fishing, beekeeping, tourism and handicrafts

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The value of
ecosystem
servicessuch as flood
control was
4 x higher
than theeconomic
benefitfrom cattle
raisingCattle ranchers can take advantage of the flooding pulse to improve the qualityof forage and pastures

tween day-to-day risks on the delta and long-term collective needs. “Floods affect our cows and calves,” he said.
That was a problem. “But we need to stop degrading ourwetlands, and work to restore them. So we need to discuss
the right production systems for flooded areas.” After theworkshop, 15 other ranchers signed up to join the project,bringing our “reach” to 26,000 hectares.
During the year we also researched alternative production
methods, such as raising water buffalo -- which appear
better suited to the wet conditions than regular cattle, andwhose meat commands a high price – and assessing theirpotential environmental impacts.
We have been working too with the delta’s artisanal fishers,
who are marginalised by larger operators and exploited bytraders. In 2019, we held a workshop to launch the Paraná
Delta Artisanal Fishers Network to train and empower them.
It builds on our collaboration with four fishers’ cooperatives that have signed work plans to ensure the sustainability of their activities. In return, we are helping them
improve their livelihoods.
The 30 members of the La Palometa Fisherfolks Association
used to sell their catches at low prices to big merchantssold on to lucrative export markets. Our support helped
them build capacity to fillet their fish and sell directly -and more profitably -- to local markets.
The “Corredor Azul” programme, launched in 2018, aims to safeguard the entire fluvial corridor from the Pantanal wetland, 3400 kilometres down one of theworld’s last large free-flowing river systems to the Paraná Delta.

We are also linking up with other critical economic activities in the delta. In October, we held our first dialogue withthe forestry sector, to consider water management and biodiversity conservation in forest areas.
-Our work on the delta is part of a wider decade-long project, launched in 2018, to safeguard the entire fluvial corridor from the Pantanal wetland, the world’s largest tropical
wetland, for 3400 kilometres down one of the world’s lastlarge free-flowing river systems to the Paraná Delta. We callit the “Corredor Azul”, or blue corridor.
The aim is to protect both natural wetland ecosystems
and the livelihoods of the people who depend directly on
them, including more than 10,000 fishing families, those
who service eco-tourists, and the tens of millions dependent on the rivers’ water supplies and wetlands’ ability tosoak up floods. In particular, we have been working to getwetlands properly incorporated into environmental impact
assessments. In Argentina, for instance, that has not been
the case.
Governments have supported our programme. But hard
choices await. Looming on the horizon is the long-discussed Hidrovia Waterway project to create a shipping
highway 50 metres wide from the Pantanal to the ocean, toWetlands Annual Review 201953

Without thepower of thePantanal tohold backwater, theresult could
be massive
flooding
downstream

KEIZRUL ABDULLAHCHAIRPERSON OF THE COUNCIL (BOARD OF DIRECTORS) - MALAYSIA
MALAYSIA OFFICE

export soy and other grains, iron ore, gypsum, timber andagricultural products from the heart of the continent. The
scheme was formally revived in 2019.
Wetland International’s Argentine director Daniel Blancosays that Hidrovia is a “big threat” to the Corredor Azul’s
wetlands. River widening at two critical points in the Pantanal could drain substantial parts of the wetland. Without
the huge regulatory power of the Pantanal to hold backwater, the result could be massive flooding downstream,including in the delta.
But, he says, “it is not the intention of the Corredor Azul
programme to stop Hidrovia, but rather to influence theinitiative to reduce its impacts, and maintain the natural hydrological connectivity of the rivers and their floodplains.”
Wetlands, he says, “should be part of the equation whenplanning and designing a big infrastructure initiative like
Hidrovia.” And we will be there every step of the way, advocating for what Blanco calls “a more integral vision” thatrecognises the importance of wetlands.

Partners
Universidad Nacional de San
Martin (UNSAM)
Universidad de Buenos Aires(UBA)
INTA Paraná (National
Institute of Agricultural
Technology)
Donor
DOB Ecology
For the entire list see Annex

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Who is Keizrul Abdullah?
My name is Keizrul Abdullah. I am Chairperson of theCouncil (Board of Directors) in Malaysia. I have been
associated with Wetlands International since 2004.
Presently in Malaysia we are working on two different areas
concerning wetlands. One is Building with Nature (BwN)
to restore wetlands, and the other is the introduction of
constructed wetlands in two townships here. Building
with Nature represents an innovative approach to protect
the coast against erosion and floods, it works with andalongside the dynamics of nature. The constructedwetlands in the two townships will function as retention
ponds against floods as well as improve the wetlands
ecosystem. This way we keep people safe and bring natureback to the urban concrete jungle.

developing pilots in five Asian countries. This workshop
was a key moment in the process.

What was your biggest personal
work achievement in 2019?
In July 2019, I participated in an expert workshop on
Building with Nature organised by Wetlands Internationalwith the Global Centre on Adaptation (GCA). We got eight
Asian countries involved, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia,
Philippines, Japan, China, India, Singapore. It brought
people together who did not know anything on BwN.
The participants of the workshop resolved to introduce
the BwN concept in their home countries. Now we are

What do you want to achieve in 2020?
Despite all the challenges we have during the current
COVID-19 crisis, I hope we can finalise the constructedwetlands for the two townships. The first one shouldbe operational this year. But construction activities has
stopped for now, due to the virus. When the construction
is finished, we can do a baseline study on biodiversity andkeep track of the development over the coming years. For
BwN I hope we can apply the lessons learned on a pilot
project.

What is the nicest thing about
working at Wetlands International?
I am a water engineer by training, and in my career I
worked on water and environmental engineering issues,
mainly in the planning, development and management ofirrigation, drainage, river, floods and coastal projects . My
job was to improve the water system from a technical pointof view. With Wetlands International, I am able to broaden
my outlook to the bigger landscape view and to include
nature and the ecosystem into the process. This way we
can not only help keep people safe from water stresses anddisasters, but also bring them closer to nature.

Wetlands Annual Review 201955

WETLANDS FORA SAFER WORLDWith €1 million from the Dutch National Postcode Lottery

Wetlands,
Peace and
Security
Update on investments and outcomes in 20192019 was the second year of a three-year investment of a
€1 million grant, with which we built on our programmes
to catalyse actions and investments of others, so scaling up
benefits for people and nature. In 2019, we invested € 235,940
of the grant as “seed finance”. The breakdown is included in the
final annex of the report. Here we summarise how we targetedthese investments and how this links to our plans for 2020.

Mangrove
CapitalWe secured new partners; increased our project portfolio
working on the connection between wetlands, water, peaceand security in the Sahel and launched an overarchingcommitment “Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel (BLiSS)” withpartners, in the frame of the Water Action Track of the Global
Commission on Adaptation. The National Postcode Lottery
grant enables us to build on this, by supporting local andnational dialogues and preparing a portfolio of landscape
propositions ready for investment post-2020, that will
help to accelerate climate adaptation alongside recovering
nature. These measures are needed to help prevent andresolve rising social conflicts over water and wetland natural
resources in the region.

The grant enabled Wetlands International to contributeto mobilise the Global Mangrove Alliance together withpartners, resulting in new projects, profile, influence andnew donors. We published new information on mangrove
status and created the basis for establishing Global Mangrove Watch, which will be launched in 2020 – an online
one-stop shop that brings together and makes available
geospatial data on mangrove forests to guide and support
conservation and restoration of mangroves globally. In
2020, the grant will help us to mobilise a portfolio of new
mangrove initiatives in East Africa and to explore the potential for carbon financing as an upscaling mechanism for
mangrove restoration.

Restoring mangroves in Panama city helps protect the city and its people from floods
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Wetlands
2020

Buildingwith Nature

The grant enabled the design and publishing process for
our landmark book on wetlands: “Water Lands”, which waslaunched on World Wetlands Day 2020, and is disseminated through major online outlets and influencers, helping tobuild attention for wetlands in the post-2020 biodiversity
agenda. In 2020, we will launch a digital campaign andstorytelling hub to inspire and mobilise youth and rally
supporters behind specific calls to action for wetlands.

The grant enabled Wetlands International to engage withkey actors in five cities (Semarang, Indonesia; Chennai, India; Panama City; Manila Bay, Philippines and Buenos Aires,
Argentina) to influence schemes aiming to build resilience
to water risks such as storms, floods and water scarcity. Bybringing wetlands expertise and community perspectives
into the design processes (in Semarang and Chennai), weare able to promote wetland solutions as part of major
flood risk infrastructure (e.g. in Panama City), influencenational urban resilience programs (such as in India andthe Philippines) and potentially influence larger regional
investments (from regional investment banks or EU Green
Deal) beyond 2020. Over 2020, the grant will further help
to develop the political and technical basis for attracting
major investments using Building with Nature solutions infive Asian countries.

PeatlandTreasures
The grant was not applied to peatlands in 2019, principally
due to changes in the team and a focus on implementing existing peatland projects. In 2020, the grant will enable Wetlands International to implement a strategy to put peatlandson the map for carbon finance; mobilise our partnerships,
knowledge and expertise to help save peat mega-stores, andto influence national climate policies and plans which will
open up public and private sector investments.

Institutional
development
The grant enabled the establishment of a new finance system for the global office which will increase our efficiency
and generation of timely management information, as wellas the provision of institutional support to offices in Africa,
South Asia and Indonesia to improve governance, personnel development and operational systems. In 2020, we willcontinue to strengthen our network institutional capacity .
Part of the grant will be applied to assist offices to mitigate
impacts of Coronavirus by improving communications, IT
platforms and tooling for remote working.
Mangrove are starting to grow naturally in the area where sediments wascaught and consolidated in Demak, Indonesia.

Community establishes permeable structure to catch sediment to let mangroves grow back naturally.
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59

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Semarang, Indonesia is battlingwith coastal erosion, exacerbatedby the removal of mangroves, andsubsidence, caused by groundwater
pumping.
The future of the entire coastline
and its millions of inhabitants canonly be secured if the mangrove
restoration is complemented
by ending land subsidence.
Restored mangroves and mud
flats welcome new bird life,
including night herons and great
and little egrets.

BUILDING
WITH
NATURE
By Fred Pearce

Solving the flooding problem
in Panama City is complex andinvolves many parties.

The city of Semarang is sinking. The booming industrial porton the north shore of the Indonesian island of Java is in deep
trouble. As the land sinks and the sea invades, the roofs ofhouses in places around the harbour are almost at the floor levelof others that have been raised up.
The capital of the Central Java province, which has a populationof almost two million, was built on marshland. In recent times,
its numerous textiles factories and other industries – not tomention the city’s inhabitants – have been pumping hugequantities of water from beneath the marsh, causing parts ofthe city to sink by between 6 and 19 centimetres every year,
inundating buildings and damaging infrastructure. To makematters worse, the mangroves that once held back the waters of
the Java Sea have long been removed.
Parts of Semerang, a booming city on the northern shore of Indonesia’s populous island of Javaare regularly under water as the land sinks. Pumping groundwater is driving subsidence.
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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 201961Permeable structure that traps sediment to stabilise the coastline at Bogorame
Timbulsloko village, Java.

Along the adjacent coast, the story is the same. The landis sinking because of Semarang’s pumping, and with mangroves replaced by prawn ponds in rural areas, the sea
is swamping the land. “We’ve lost 500 metres to the sea
in the last ten years,” said Maskur, a teacher in Wedung
village, as our boat headed past the submerged banks offormer prawn ponds and out into a bay unmarked on any
maps. Nearby Timbulsloko village is now almost an island,connected to the mainland by a five-kilometre causeway.
In the past five years, Wetlands International and Dutch
water engineers have been working with the inhabitantsof nine villages east of Semarang, and local experts, in an
innovative project to erect offshore brushwood barriers
that capture silt, stabilising the coastline and allowing mangroves to re-establish themselves. The labour of community groups was exchanged for our support for local economic activities such as improved aquaculture and tourist
developments. We have since been working on developing
village regulations to protect the restored mangroves.
This strategy of “Building with Nature” appears to be working, with sediment accumulating behind the barriers andmangroves starting to emerge, with ecological as well as
coastal defences and community benefits. The new andrestored mangroves and adjacent mud flats in Wedung andelsewhere were in 2019 also being occupied by new bird
life, including night herons and great and little egrets which
community groups are now protecting.

The Indonesian government is adopting the same approachto provide protection for dozens of other coastal communities across the country, says Abdul Muhari, formerlyof the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, a project partner, andnow head of early warning at the government’s National
Disaster Management Authority. So far, permeable brushwood barriers have been erected along 23.5 kilometres offlood-threatened coast in Java, Lombok and Sulawesi. We
worked in 2019 with the ministry and the government’s
Geospatial Information Agency to develop national mangrove maps to boost conservation and restoration.

Sinking land and the conversion of the mangroves to fish ponds has created a crisis along Java’s northern shore. The ocean has invaded several kilometres inland,
obliterating whole villages.

But it has become clear that around Semarang subsidence
is flooding land and limiting mangrove restoration. The
future of the entire coastline and its millions of inhabitants
can only be secured if the mangrove restoration is complemented by ending land subsidence.
So in 2019 we worked with a design team, ONE Resilient
Semarang, to draft a wider strategy for coastal protection in
and around the city. Its centrepieces are restoring a mangrove “green belt” along the coast, and ending the groundwater pumping by providing new water sources. The aim is
to incorporate the ideas into future regional infrastructure
planning. We hope to integrate a 2000-hectare mangrove
and fishing park into the government’s existing plan for acoastal road on a sea wall that, depending on its design,
could help mangrove recovery or kill it by cutting the green
belt off from the ocean.
One of the animals that take advantage of the mangroves are crabs.

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63

The aim is toencouragemunicipal
authorities
to see theirwetlands
as natural
reservoirs forfloodwaters
A Community meeting, part of the Water as Leverage initiative, Chennai, India

But this is just the start. These are widespread problems.
With the Indonesian government, we launched a National
Roadmap in Land Subsidence, offering potential natural
solutions. And in 2019, we worked to scale up the idea of
natural solutions to flooding and other water management
problems on coasts, deltas and rivers across Asia. This isbeing done both within the Building for Nature programme
and the Dutch government’s Water as Leverage initiative,
which has targeted three flood-ravaged cities: Semarang;
the Indian megacity of Chennai; and Khulna, on the Ganges
delta in Bangladesh.
The aim is to encourage municipal authorities to see theirwetlands not as wastelands to be drained for urban growth,
but as areas to be nurtured because they provide natural
reservoirs for floodwaters, protecting the rest of the city.
Chennai has grown rapidly on a flat plain close to the Bayof Bengal. Until the 1980s, the plain was mostly wetland. It
had more than a thousand tanka, traditional local reservoirs
linked in cascades that captured and transported rainwater,
so combining flood protection and water supply. But today,
as the city of 11 million people has spread, only 15 percent of the wetland remains.
As a result, the city suffers, at different times, from bothdamaging floods and severe water shortages. We arehelping develop local plans to ease the problems by reviving the tanka and wetlands, while also replacing urban
concrete and asphalt with permeable surfaces that allow
One of Chennai’s tankas - traditional local reservoirs linked in cascades that captured and transported rainwater, combining flood protection and water supply. But
today, only 15 per cent of the city’s wetland remains.

rainwater to recharge underground water reserves, andrestoring a coastal lagoon.
At the Climate Action Summit in New York in September
2019, we formally launched an initiative to leverage funding to develop such solutions in 15 more landscapes infive countries. The aim is to benefit 10 million people inthe coming decade, through improved security and climate
resilience for water, food and livelihoods.
Building with Nature “integrates the services that natureprovides into civil engineering practice,” says Fokko vander Groot of our partner Ecoshape, a public-private platform of Dutch dredging and engineering companies andknowledge institutions of which Wetlands International isan active partner. The ultimate aim, says Yus Rusila Noor,head of the Building with Nature programme at Wetlands
International Indonesia, is no less than “to transform thecivil engineering sector of Asia”.
This may not be easy. The expertise and ambitions of environmentalists and engineers can be very different. An
important part of the work is educating future engineers
about natural solutions, which we undertook in 2019 ineight universities and training institutions, reaching 2000
students in the year.
And there is a growing body of case work from across theworld for them to study. For instance, in 2019 we continued our work with partners to develop plans and seek
Wetlands Annual Review 201965

Drainedfloodplains
and theremoval ofmangroves
make ‘perfectstorm’
conditionsof peak riverflows and hightides

investment to use nature-based solutions to mitigate floodrisk in Panama City in Central America. Flooding there causes more than 85 per cent of its economic losses due to disasters from natural hazards. This is because a construction
boom has drained floodplains and marshes, and removed
part of the mangroves that once protected the city fromthe “perfect storm” conditions of peak river flows, tropicalstorms and high tides. A quarter-million inhabitants are
now living in 75 flood-prone neighbourhoods.
The worst such neighbourhood is Juan Diaz, where 50,000
people live on a low-lying river floodplain that has been
invaded by buildings built on elevated ground, its creeks
straightened and drains clogged. When it rains, there is
nowhere for the water to go other than to the lowest-lying
houses.
Solving the problem is complex and involves many parties.
Pouring concrete won’t fix it. So we work with architects,
the city authorities, the Inter-American Development Bankand the Dutch water experts, to initiate local water dialogues involving everyone from community groups to university academics and developers, to seek solutions. The
dialogues have drawn up an action plan that includes both
restrictions on new development and the revival of wetlands on the floodplain and upstream. The task now is toensure that the plan is carried out, through our continued
engagement in the city’s needs.

Partners
The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs andFisheries (MMAF)
The Indonesian Ministry of Public Works andHousing (PU)
EcoShape
Witteveen+Bos
DeltaresWageningen University & Research
UNESCO-IHE
TU Delft
Von Lieberman
Blue Forests
Kota Kita
Diponegoro University (UNDIP)
DonorsThe Dutch Sustainable Water FundThe German Federal Ministry for theEnvironment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear
Safety (BMU) as part of the International Climate
Initiative (IKI)
Waterloo Foundation
Otter Foundation
Topconsortia for Knowledge and Innovation
For the entire list see Annex

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

MENNO DE BOERTECHNICAL OFFICER, OFFICE EASTERN AFRICA
Who is Menno de Boer?
I grew up in the west of the Netherlands, and I’ve spent alarge part of my life surrounded by water. In 2017, I wasfortunate in that I started my career in the field as an internin Guinea-Bissau for Wetlands International. Now, I am atechnical officer in the Deltas and Coasts team, working on
projects to protect and restore coastal wetlands in Africa.
What is the nicest thing about
working for Wetlands International?
I enjoy working out in the field. When I walk through themangroves, or across an abandoned rice field, I feel a very
close connection to the place and people we’re working
so hard to protect. We also get to engage and empower
the people living in and around the mangroves, and I thinkthat’s amazing.

What was your most significant
personal achievement last year?
It would be the acceptance of the second phase of theMangrove Capital programme. It was, of course, a teameffort, but it was one of my main tasks and seeing it being
accepted was an honour.
What is your favourite species?
My favourite species is the Atlantic humpback dolphin.
When I worked in the Saloum Delta in Senegal, I cameacross this rare species, which I had no idea about. Unfortunately, there are only a few thousand left due to themgetting stuck in fishing nets and noise pollution causedby engines and drilling. This is what makes my work evenmore relevant. One of my aims this year is for us to improvethe management of the Saloum Delta, making sure thisspecies can thrive there.
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67

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Wetlands in the region havelong been the Sahel’s, mostimportant natural resources
but they are almost
everywhere in decline.
Peace and security
require adequate water.
To prevent lakes from disappearing
in Ethiopia’s Rift Valley, we
worked in 2019 with the Maki Batu
Union of some 9000 farmers to
reduce water needs.
The Blue Lifelines for a Secure
Sahel initiative aims to revive
wetlands and natural water sources
to improve livelihoods, boost
food production, reduce conflicts
and buffer the region against
climate change.

BLUE
LIFELINES
By Fred Pearce

On 23 March 2019, central Mali erupted into violence. Gunmenkilled some 160 Fulani herders and burned huts in the village of
Ogossagou. The massacre was reportedly by an ethnic vigilantegroup retaliating against villagers who had joined an Islamic
terror group. Other attacks followed. In the aftermath, withprotests across the country, the prime minister resigned and thegovernment fell.
Jihadism has taken hold in Mali, with the main force, the Katiba
Macina, operating out of the remote villages of the Inner Niger
delta, a wetland on the edge of the Sahara desert where West
Africa’s biggest water course, the River Niger, spreads out acrossan area the size of Switzerland.
Water scarcity is fuelling armed conflicts in Mali.

68

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 201969

Women selecting the day’s fish catch.

Until recently, the ethnically diverse delta was a peaceable
region. Bozo fishers, Fulani herders and Bambara and Sonrhai farmers cooperated to share the wetland’s resources.
Fishers ruled in the wet season; then farmers planted as
the waters receded, and herders move in after the crops
were harvested. Five years ago, this author had travelled
the delta at will. One fisher told how “Bozo and Fulani have
lived together here for centuries.”
No longer. Since the Ogossagou massacre, law and orderhas broken down. There are many causes. But one is thegrowth of disputes over water and the natural resources itsustains. These disputes are exacerbated by water diversions upstream that are drying out the wetland.
With partners, Wetlands International has been working formany decades with delta communities from different ethnic groups. We have provided technical expertise, training
and access to micro-credit to help them manage and sharethe delta’s natural wealth, in exchange for their time andeffort in restoring wetland ecosystems.
In Akka village, we helped villagers plant bourgou grasses(also known as hippo grasses) in lake shallows to nurture
more fish and provide fodder for cattle. In Kakagnan, we
encouraged women to band together to plant fruit trees
and irrigated kitchen gardens. In Simina and Noga, ourhelp allowed villagers to divert river water into ponds for
70

Wetlands Annual Review 2019fish and cattle. Such projects have also restored some 500
hectares of valuable flooded forests and more than 2000
hectares of bourgou in the delta.

Fisher and his nets in the Inner Niger Delta, Mali

“Despite the insecurity, we are still in action” says CEO
Jane Madgwick. “Our aim is to nip in the bud conflicts overdiminishing natural resources such as fisheries or access tobourgou before they escalate into ethnic disputes and turnviolent.”
During 2019, we helped municipalities in the delta organise dialogues aimed at reconciliation between communities. In Djenné, the dialogues resolved disputes overdamage to fields caused by migrating herds and introduced
new regulations on herd movements. “Since the application of the regulation, our animals move freely and stay inthe two communes without conflict,” says Amadou Cissé,
vice-president of the Djenné coalition.
But peace and security require adequate water, and that
requires government action. In 2019, we helped equip staff
at the inter-government Niger Basin Authority with data,
models and other tools to help manage the river and allocate its water. In particular, we commissioned research into
how demand for water upstream of the delta – for instancethe long-planned Fomi hydroelectric dam in Guinea andMali’s plans to expand the irrigation – can be met without
further damaging the delta.
The African Sacred Ibis, native to the Inner Niger Delta, feeds wading in very shallow wetlands and in wet
pastures with soft soil.

Wetlands Annual Review 201971

It’s now
possiblehow best to
optimise water
sharing anddefine thethreshold levels
below which we
could anticipate
conflict
It is now possible to quantify how best to share wateramong different stakeholders to optimise benefits fordifferent users , and to define the threshold levels below
which we could anticipate conflict arising,” says Madgwick.
“It looks possible to enhance agriculture, energy and safeguard the delta. But it will take political will.”
Luckily, political will does remain. In 2019, we successfully
anchored wetland conservation and restoration in the new
Malian National Water Policy. And we helped four municipalities establish development plans that will manage water toprotect major wintering grounds for water birds from Europe.
Wetlands such as the Inner Niger Delta have long been the
Sahel’s most important natural resources: economic engines, ecological jewels and life-saving human refuges during droughts. But they are almost everywhere in decline.
Dams and irrigation diversions, intended to harness waterfor economic development in this arid region end up dispossessing those people most dependent on its free flow.
The result is conflict -- sometimes exploited by militants– and outmigration. Many Africans taking boats to Europe
come from villages caught up in conflicts over the Sahel’s
diminishing wetlands. Since 2013, more than two million
people have fled the shores of Lake Chad, which has been
reduced to a tenth of its former size by the abstraction ofwater from the rivers that once fed it.
Lake Abijata is in rapid retreat as water is abstracted from the interconnected lakes of Ethiopia’s Central Rift Valley. The biggest users of water are giant European
flower growers.

In 2019, we were working in many parts of the region tohead off such disasters, helping governments to secure
better water allocation, and wetland communities to makebest use of what they have. Our strategy is to promote dialogue around water as the key natural resource on which
all others depend, as a route to conflict prevention andresolution.
In Ethiopia’s Rift Valley, we have organised local and Dutch
experts to analyse ways forward in the Ziway-Shalla, an inland basin whose lakes are being emptied for irrigation byboth smallholders and giant European flower growers. Lake
Abijatta, famous for its flamingos, has lost a third of its surface area and may disappear entirely within two decades.
To prevent that, we are working with farmers’ cooperatives, public authorities and others to alleviate the threats,through everything from more efficient farming to a newproperly-enforced water allocation plan. In 2019, we
worked with the Maki Batu Union of some 9000 farmers to
help them adopt drip irrigation, which could reduce theirwater needs by 25-30 per cent.
But national action is not enough. Many rivers in the Sahelcross borders. We need to build international political will.
So at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September 2019, we announced a commitment to establish theBlue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel initiative (BLiSS). The aim is
Wetlands Annual Review 201973

The largest land animal in Paraná Delta, the Marsh Deer

It’s inconceivableto talk of restorationof the dry lands
without paying
equal attention to
the wetlands

a movement across the region that will revive wetlands andnatural water sources to improve livelihoods, boost foodproduction, reduce conflicts and buffer the region against
climate change. By 2030, we aim to restore and safeguard
20 million hectares of wetlands in six river systems, making
10 million people richer, healthier and safer.
The African Union is a partner in driving forward the ideas
behind BLiSS in the Great Green Wall Initiative. Once envisioned as a barrier of trees from the Atlantic to the Red
Sea that would keep the sands of the Sahara from invading
the Sahel, we propose it expands its focus to become anengine for better governance of the desert’s most valuable
human and ecological resource – its water.
In 2019, we also collaborated with the G5 group of Sahelcountries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Mauritania and Mali)
on its initiative to improve sustainable economic development by combatting the linked issues of migration, landdegradation and climate change. We made the case thatthe inclusion of wetland restoration was vital to ending
land degradation.
These are big tasks. But as Elvis Paul Tangem, the African
Union’s coordinator for the Great Green Wall Initiative, put
it in 2019: “It is inconceivable to talk of restoration of the
dry lands without paying equal attention to the wetlands.”
And the alternative is not good. In February 2020, there
was another massacre in Ogossagou, in which another 40
people died.
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Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Partners
Blue Forests
Deltares
Diponegoro University (UNDIP)
EcoShape
Kota Kita
The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs andFisheries (MMAF)

Saving the marsh deer in
the Paraná Delta, Argentina

The Indonesian Ministry of Public Works andHousing (PU)TU Delft
UNESCO-IHE
Von Lieberman
Wageningen University & Research
Witteveen+Bos
DonorsOtter Foundation
The Dutch Sustainable Water FundThe German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety(BMU) as part of the International Climate Initiative(IKI)
Topconsortia for Knowledge and Innovation
Waterloo Foundation
For the entire list see Annex

The very charismatic marsh deer is one of the largest landmammals of the Paraná Delta, Argentina. Marsh deer live
in and around marshes and lagoons and have large hooves
with elastic interdigital membranes which are useful for
swimming and walking on soft and floating vegetation. The
marsh deer is a critically endangered species mainly due tothe destruction of their traditional habitats and hunting.
In 2019 Wetlands International began a new programme
to safeguard and restore biodiversity in the Paraná Delta,
as part of a wider effort in the wider Paraná-Paraguay River
Corridor. Conserving the marsh deer is an element of the“Corredor Azul” programme.

The extensive wetlands and wealth of nature in the delta
is threatened by unsustainable activities like industrial
scale cattle ranching, lumber harvesting and urbanisation.
Conservation of the marsh deer and its habitat requires
coordinated policies and measures are required involving
national municipalities, NGOs, private companies, local andregional institutions. This is being taken forward as part ofa bigger picture approach that aims to promote sustainable
development in harmony with safeguarding and restoring
the ecosystem health and functionality of the delta.

Wetlands Annual Review 201975

Wetlands
International
Offices

6
4
5
20

17

14
7

1

8

1. Latin America & Caribbean Panama
2. Brazil
3. Latin American & Caribbean Argentina
4. Global oﬃce

2

5. Europe

9

18
10

15 16

12

19

11
13

6. Russia
7. West Africa Coastal
8. Guinea-Bissau
9. Sahel3

10. Ethiopia
11. Uganda
12. Eastern Africa
13. Tanzania
14. South Asia
15. Malaysia
16. Brunei
17. China
18. Philippines
19. Indonesia
20. Japan
76

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Wetlands Annual Review 201977

Streamsof Work

Wetlands International “streams” denote our modesof working across different wetland types and issues,and help us make the distinctions needed to run ourprogrammes. This mapshows the major global regions
wherethe streams Coasts and Deltas, Blue Lifelines,
Water Stores and Peatland Treasures are focused.
These are denoted bycoloured layersthat correspondto the stream in the legend showing our contribution
to the SDGs. Due to its wide global reach, Healthy
Wetland Nature is not shown on this map. Instead, we
spotlight our waterbird flyways work on page 80.

Replenishedwater storesfrom moutainto seaContributing to the Sustainable Development Goals
The world has committed to Agenda 2030: 17 Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), and the Paris
Climate Agreement. Providing water for all, ending
poverty and hunger, reducing water-related disasters, mitigation and adaptation to climate change alldepend on healthy wetlands. Our work across Coasts
and Deltas, Blue Lifelines, Water Stores and Peatland
Treasures all contribute to achieving the Sustainable
Development Goals.

78

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Vibrant coasts
and deltas
Blue lifelines
in the desert

Peatlandtreasures

Wetlands Annual Review 201979

Workingon flyways

A ﬂyway is a geographicallydeﬁned unit for the purpose ofmonitoring and managing
migratory bird populations, andaround which countries can work
together to determine the best
approaches for their conservation.
There are at least 7,000 sites
globally that are critical to thesurvival of migratory waterbirds,
providing nesting, feeding andresting habitat. These ‘criticalsites’ support at least 1% of awaterbird population. They also
support freshwater and coastal
species.
The annual International
Waterbird Census (IWC), whichmonitors and assesses waterbirds
in all ﬂyways, took place across
13,000 sites in 150 countries. Asinternational coordinator, we use
the IWC data to provide vital
information to guide conservationfrom site to ﬂyway.

FlywaysWest Paciﬁc
Paciﬁc Americas
Mississippi Amercas
Atlantic Americas
East Atlantic
BlackSea / MediterraneanWest Asian - East African
Central Asian
East Asian-Australasian80

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

ARGENTINAMALIBARR AL HIKMANYELLOW SEA

We developed the ﬂyway and

The Inner Niger Delta is of interna-

The Barr Al Hikman peninsula, Al Wusta, Oman is

The intertidal wetlands of the Yellow Sea

site level baseline maps for 19

tional importance for biodiversity

the most critically important area for waterbirds inare a major bottleneck for waterbirds

intercontinental migratory

along the East Atlantic & Black Sea /the West Asian – East African ﬂyway. Comprised of

migrating along the East Asian –shorebird species to prioritise

Mediterranean Flyways. We areintertidal mudﬂats, reefs and salt ﬂats, it sustains

Australasian Flyway. We supported theconservation eﬀorts in theworking to ensure that freshwaterover half a million ‘wintering’ waterbirds and many

government in declaring the Yellow

major transboundary Paraná-from upstream meets the current

more during the migration periods . We support the

Sea-Bohai Gulf as the ﬁrst coastal

Paraguay wetland system.

and future availability for all.

government to manage the area.

UNESCO World Heritage Site in China.

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

81

FUNCTIONING OF
THE ORGANISATION

Wetlands
International
Networkof Offices

RussiaJapan

Latin
America andCaribbean
PanamaBrazil

China

Latin
America andCaribbean
Argentina

EuropeBruneiMalaysia

Strategic intent
Wetlands International’s Strategic Intent (2015-2025) provided direction for its global network and set the guiding
framework for the 2019 annual action plans. The strategic
intent was reviewed in 2019 in consultation with members
and stakeholders and key adjustments adopted. An updated Strategic Intent (2020-2030) will be published later in2020.
Achievements
Results that contribute to the ambitions of the strategic intent are delivered through programmes and projects by ouroffices collaboratively, in line with the local context where
they operate and the expertise of their team. A summary ofachievements is provided on pages 8-17. A project list (seepages 32-35 Annex) provides an overview of the main projects implemented in 2019.
Wetlands International network
Wetlands International is an independent global networkorganisation of offices which implement a joint strategic
intent and take action to safeguard and restore wetlands in

82

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

more than 100 countries worldwide. Our offices and where
they are located are shown on page 76 of the annual review.
Global office
The Global Office, based in the Netherlands and led by theCEO, serves the entire network in a representation, communications, technical support and fundraising capacity.
The office is responsible for keeping the daily work of the
network aligned with decisions taken by the network management team and global board. Global office staffing andrelated human resource issues in 2019 are presented on
page 88.

GlobalWest
AfricaCoastalGuineaBissauIndonesia

South
Asia

Eastern
AfricaUgandaSahel

Philippines

Tanzania
Ethiopia

Communications and advocacy
To ensure we speak with one voice globally, external communications and the use of the Wetlands International
brand are guided by a communications policy and brandstrategy supported by a dedicated team based at the global
office. This team is responsible for our global brand strategy,
which guides how we present the organisation worldwide. A
new head of communications and advocacy was appointed
in 2019.

Wetlands Annual Review 201983

Network
Organisation
Chart

GOVERNANCE

GovernanceWetlands International has two complementary forms
of international governance: an association of members(governments and NGOs), and a foundation overseen by
a supervisory council whose members also constitute theboard of the association. The 2019 report from the supervisory council can be found on page 38. Where network
offices have an independent legal status they are governedby national/ sub-regional boards, of which the network
CEO is an ex-officio member.
Network Management
The global board, consisting of the Wetlands International
CEO and heads of each office, is responsible for strategic
decisions on positioning, programme priorities and institutional issues. The global board delegates operational
decision-making to the network management team chairedby the CEO and with four members from among heads ofoffice and four global functions (Programme, Resources,
Communications, Operations). In 2019 the network management team met online bi-monthly and the global board
met in person in October. The global office management
team facilitates network executive management as well as
managing the Global Office. Programme development andproject implementation is undertaken by all Offices working in collaboration with each other and many partners.
Accountability
Transparency and accountability towards our stakeholders are part of our core values, including actively seeking
feedback on our performance. A dedicated section of our
website provides our annual reports and annual accounts,

84

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

National /Sub-Regional
BoardsSupervisory
Council &Board of Association

Membersof theAssociationand information about key global policies including Conservation and Human Rights Framework, INGO Accountability Framework, Code of Conduct, Corporate Engagement,
Anti-corruption, Ethical, Gender, and Partnership policies
can be found here.
Anti-Corruption and Whistle blowing
All staff are introduced to the anti-corruption policy in their
Induction and are encouraged to be vigilant and discuss
any suspicions with their line manager or head of office.
All stakeholders can approach Wetlands International with
their grievances or complaints related to possible cases offraud, corruption. The complaints procedure is available on
the Wetlands International website. In 2019 there were norecorded cases of fraud or corruption and no complaints
received.

NetworkCEO
NETWORKEXECUTIVE
MANAGEMENT(of Heads of Office)Network
Management
Team

Corporate Social Responsibility
Wetlands International strives to act in its daily operations
in a sustainable and socially responsible way. In our officein the Netherlands, we actively encourage our employees
to use public transport and all flights booked are compensated for their CO2 emission (409 tonnes in 2019).
We take further steps to reduce our ecological footprint
where practical. We publish as much as possible our communication materials online and only essential stationary
material is printed. We use web meetings for internal andexternal meetings. Office supplies such as coffee, tea andpaper are organic, fair trade and recycled. We have an automatic energy saving light system and office waste is separated for recycling.

Global Oﬃce
Management
Team

Global Board

PROGRAMMEDEVELOPMENT &IMPLEMENTATION

NetworkOﬃces

Global Oﬃce
(services Network &Offices)

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

85

Risk
Management
A risk register is updated at every reporting cycle, including mitigating measures, and discussed with the Wetlands
International Supervisory Council. The top five risks are specified in the table below.

1036European
Association
Members(global)
Association
Members

1.

2,

3.

4,

5.

86

Risk

Area of risk

Potential Impact on organisation

Mitigation measures

Political
instability andconflict

Governance(external)

This risk is prevalent across mostregions where we work and canmean that all office operations
are suspended or that specificprojects delayed significantly orcancelled.

Maintain close contacts with heads
of office, diplomatic networks andwith donors. Strengthen cooperation
with local communities. Incorporate
flexibility in project design.

Wetlands International has morethan 40 Governmental and NGO
members. They are a key constituency that help advance our strategic intent and pay membershipfees that support key work of theorganisation.

Engage with members in conjunction
with Ramsar meetings. Strengthencommunications and relationshipmanagement with delegates. Launch
on-line campaign in 2020.

Without a strong pipeline of newprospects and project proposals
it will not be possible to maintaincore staff, nor create the positive
impact needed for wetlands andthe communities who depend on
them.

Management team, heads of offices
and programme heads have timereserved to identify and develop
opportunities. The global offices will
recruit a new resource development
manager and hold bi-weekly meetings to review opportunities.

Delays can reduce the level orquality of project achievements
and cause negative financial results in offices.

A programme head is assigned tosupervise each large international
project. They take responsibility for
flagging any progress issues andsolutions to programme leadershipteam and to the management team.

Over-stretched staff are unable
to deliver quality results on time.
This affects delivery and reliability of our operations.

Proposal design includes organisational development wherever possible. Close cooperation with heads ofoffice on capabilities and development needs

Loss of members

Governance(internal)

Insufficient
resource development to implement the strategic
intent and coverorganisationalcosts

Financial

Delay in project
implementation
creates over-run
in time and overspending

Financial

Insufficient staff
capacity to deliver on complex,
co-funded international projects

Operational

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Associatedmembers, experts
and volunteers
10,000+Volunteer
CitizenScientists

9251

Supervisory
CouncilPartners

31

6

Associate
Experts

Councillorsof Honour

16

Specialist
GroupsIncreasing our reach as a network
The strength of the Wetlands International network is morethan the sum-total of its offices. Through working with influential partners, specialist groups, experts and members, we
accelerate our momentum and strategic results.
Members and the supervisory council provide active governance and, together with Counsellors of honours, bringhigh-level expertise, guidance and connections. Specialist
groups, associate experts and partners provide expertise,evidence and advice that underpins Wetlands International’s
approach on science, policy and practice. Partner organisations with whom Wetlands International works regularly to
implement programmes and projects are listed on pages 4649 of the Annex. We are especially proud of our long-standing
engagement with volunteer and citizen science groups, suchas those who participate in the International Waterbird Census, that are vital to mobilising a whole-of-society response.

Members
Government and NGO members of the (global) association
provide long-term support and strategic guidance to theorganisation. Members passed resolutions including endorsement of the revised mission and direction of the Strategic Intent (2020-2030) at the annual members meeting in December 2019. Our European Association has 10 NGO membersthat jointly steer our programme action across the region.
Strategic Partnerships
Wetlands International works with in many and varied partnerships in nearly all of the work it undertakes. Our partnership policy lays down principles that guide why and how
long-term strategic relationships are developed and managed.
There were no new strategic partnership agreements in 2019.

Wetlands Annual Review 201987

Spotlight:
Global OfficeSocial Report2019

Wetlands International has a highly professional andmotivated group of staff in its global office. We are proud
to have staff who are passionate about our mission. Thissection provides insight into our global office staff andhuman resource practices throughout 2019.
Diversity
Our staff has a diverse educational, cultural, and professional background, which matches with our role as aninternational NGO. This diversity enables us to learn fromeach other and to shape our international programmes
to create more impact. In December 2019, the number ofglobal office staff was 39. During the year we had staff with
12 different nationalities, an average age of 46 years and abalanced male/female ratio of 46/54.
Employment contracts
Our policy is to give new staff two fixed-term contracts of
12 months each to ensure a good match between the job
and the new employee, as well as to provide some necessary flexibility. After a fixed term contract(s), employees
who perform well are offered a permanent job. Due to thenumber of new staff starting in 2019, the number of permanent contracts reduced to 19. In 2019 the number (onaverage) of full-time staff (26) was the same as the numberof staff working part-time (13).
Incoming and outgoing employees
In December 2019 the organisation had 39 employees, anincrease of one over the previous year. There were however many staff changes with 15 new employees joining the88

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

GlobalOfficeStafforganisation and 11 leaving. This meant in 2019 a transition of 30% of our staff. We held exit interviews with staff
leaving so as to ensure we learn from the experience andto improve the work environment. Lessons learned included increasing the clarity about job content, expectations,decision making, and sharing feedback on a regular basis.
Rewarding practices
The salary scale of Wetlands International is based on anaverage of the organisations involved in the Partos benchmark (2008). The scales are adjusted up to 2% annually,
considering inflation (Netherlands consumer price index)
and the organisation’s financial position. Scales within thegrade are defined by years of relevant experience in a role
and/or in combination with experience gained in previous
positions.
HealthWe pursue an active policy to ensure staff take regularleave to keep a healthy balance between work and home.
As a result, we hardly have any long-term absences. Our
short-term sick leave percentage for 2019 was 1.7%.
Integrity
Wetlands International has a Code of Conduct that applies
to all staff. This is the basis for a safe working environment
in which staff are free to be themselves, act with integrity
and transparency, and where there is zero tolerance forinappropriate behaviour, such as intimidation or sexual
harassment. In 2019 the external Person of Trust reported
two cases that were addressed satisfactorily and closed.

46%

54%

12 NATIONALITIESAVERAGE AGE: 46

STAFF NUMBERS

CONTRACT TYPE

total: 39
fte: 33.7
part-time: 26
full-time: 13

permanent: 19
ﬁxed time: 17
project: 3

HEALTH
short-term
sick leave 1,7%

Wetlands Annual Review 201989

SUMMARY OF
FINANCE AND RESOURCING

0% 0%
5% 5%

18%18%

34%34%
Sources
Sourcesof ofincomeincomeGlobalGlobalNetwork
Network

NeworkNeworkexpenditures
expenditures
10%10%
acrossacrossﬁve ﬁvestreamsstreamsof ofwork work

Aﬃliated
non-proﬁt
org org
Aﬃliated
non-proﬁt
Corporate
Corporate

61%61%

21%21%

Government
Government
institution
institution

30%30%
Lifelines
Blue Blue
Lifelines
Coasts& Delta’s
Coasts& Delta’s
Healthy
WetlandNatureHealthy
WetlandNature21%21%

PeatlandPeatlandTreasures
TreasuresStoresWaterWater
Stores

Non-Proﬁt
Non-Proﬁtorganisation
organisation

This section provides a summary of Wetlands International’s finance and resourcing in 2019. A detailed version can befound in section 1 and 2 (annual accounts) and section 3.1 of the Annex. Wetlands International focusses its work where
wetlands matter most to both people and nature. Our programmes and initiatives are developed to meet our strategic
goals which are set out in our strategic intent and are organised into five streams, namely Healthy Wetland Nature,
Blue Lifelines in the Desert, Water Stores from Mountains to Sea, Peatland Treasures, Vibrant Coasts and Deltas(see section 3.1 of the Annex for details of where we work with these streams). Our programmes are increasingly
large-scale and long-term, involving transboundary and transcontinental work with involvement of several offices.
The offices of the network (global and local) work together for resource development, with network offices
increasingly being financed directly by donors.

Increased resource development by network offices
Until 2016, network offices raised 25% or less of our project income. In 2019 this increased towards 42% and we
expect the increase of the network to continue in 2020 andbeyond. This development allows us to bring managementand donor coordination close to the action and impact,
while the global office provides support where required.

Projects that are managed through the global office, aremostly implemented by our network offices and members,
affiliated scientific institutions, partners and experts. A
significant number of these projects are subcontracted tothese offices and affiliates.

TOTAL PROJEC T IN CO ME N ETWO R K AN D GLOBAL OFFI CE ( FOUNDAT I ON)
18
16

Further
Investments

Our
Programmes

Flexiblefunds

90

Wetlands Annual Review 2019

Our sources of income and expenditures
across the five streams
Across our five streams, Blue Lifelines accounted for thegreatest portion of our income at 30%, Healthy Wetland
Nature made up 21%; Water Stores accounted for 18%,
with Deltas and Coasts at 21% and Peatland Treasures contributing 10% of our income.

12
10
8
6
4
2
AP 2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

0
2014

Our sources of income and expenditures
across the sectors
The private sector contributed 5%, government 61%(32% Dutch government, 15% German government and
14% other governments). Trusts, foundations and NGOs
account for 34% of our donor income. The list of projects
2019 (paragraph 3.1, Annex) gives an overview of all projects implemented throughout the year, with details on theamounts funded, the project period, the donor name andtypes, which of the five streams of our strategic intent the
project contributes to, as well as the Wetlands International
offices that participated in project implementation.

14

2013

Resourcing the Global Organisation
The main source of income of Wetlands Internationalfor 2019 came from project funding. The total Wetlands
International global network project income is based on
the information obtained from the network and estimates
made. The total network project income of 2019 amounted
to € 14 million (see section 3.1, Annex).

M I L L I O N E U RO

Our funding model to leverage investment
Our funding model revolves around leveraging greater investment using small initial flexible funds to bring together
actors and develop pilot projects. Using very little flexible
funds, we are able to bring actors together and develop
small pilot projects, which in turn leverage larger programmes supported by finances of partners and additional
donors. Our programme results allow us to leverage larger
scale public and private sector investment in wetlands.

Tot a lGlob a l O ﬃ ce

Considerations looking ahead
At this moment, as we navigate our way through the COVID-19 pandemic, we are aware of additional constraints
on government and philanthropic budgets, as well as newopportunities for our organisation to be resourced, in theframe of green recovery. In the process of forecasting for2020 and 2021, the Management Team will take measures
as needed to reduce organisational costs, without diminishing our capability to grow. By establishing and working
through strategic partnerships linked to big ambitions,
we are experiencing good results from combining efforts
with partners to secure resources through joint fund-raising. This approach is enabling a targeted, long-term andmulti-region perspective for programme development.
But while the organisation is highly reliant on project fi-

nance, it remains vulnerable to shifts and stresses causedby changes in the donor landscape. The Global Office also
experiences limits to our capacity to deliver global services
to the network offices, including for example on advocacy
and communications and back-stopping the delivery ofcomplex programmes. Therefore, we are actively exploring
ways to build and sustain a flexible finance fund that can
support developmental activities and enable the organisation as a whole to adapt to changing circumstances. We arealso increasing efforts to enhance our member and supporter base and exploring mechanisms which will improve
the financial resiliency of the network of offices as a whole,through collaboration over fund-raising and sharing thecosts of providing global services.

Wetlands Annual Review 201991

Colophon

Copyright.
© 2020 Wetlands International
Published by Wetlands International
P.O. Box 471
6700 AL Wageningen
The Netherlands
Design and layout.
Gertie Vos - Poppyonto

Photo Credits.
Cover: Visoot Uthairam, Getty Images
Back: Sander Carpaij
2.

David Doubilet National Geographic
Collection from the book Water Lands,
Harper Collins, 2020.
6. Copyright Bart de Gouw
7. Wetlands International
9. Wetlands International Sahel
10. Copyright, Getty Images, as featured in
Water Lands, Harper Collins, 2020
12. Copyright, David Doubilet, National
Geographic Collection as featured in
Water Lands, Harper Collins, 2020
14. Kirill Shahmatov
16. Rebecca Reurslag
18. Mike Bloomberg, Mike Bloomberg Speaks
at UN Climate Action Summit, Flickr,
Creative Commons
20. Damsea/Shutterstock.com
22. Nik Burrow, Mangrove Kingfisher Halcyon
senegaloides, Flickr, Creative Commons
23. top right. Marius Dobilas/Shutterstock.com

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23. bottom right. Druid007/Shutterstock.com
24. Damsea/Shutterstock.com
25. Curioso.Photography/Shutterstock.com
26. Julie Mulonga, Wetlands International
Eastern Africa
27. Wetlands International
28. Wetlands International
30. Antonina Evteshina
31. top right. Ressormat/Shutterstock.com
31. bottom right. Panov, Shakhmatov
32. Pat Whelen, Unsplash
33. PT. Rimba Makmur Utama
34. Joshua Mayer, Sphagnum Moss, Flickr,
Creative Commons
35. Wetlands International Eastern Africa
36. Wetlands International
38. Wetlands International South Asia
39. Wetlands International South Asia
40. Hastings Chikoko
41. bottom left. Hastings Chikoko
41. bottom right. Robin Hyder, Johannesburg,
Flickr, Creative Commons
42. Anastasia Markina
43. Stefan Schwill

Traditional dances such as this one on display in a school in Cuiabá in the Pantanal are being revived as a means of keeping urban youth out of trouble. They
are a favourite with both tourists and locals.
Wetlands Annual Review 201944. 2seven9/Shutterstock.com
46. Wetlands International Brasil
48. Gaston Fulquet,
Wetlands International LAC
50. Claudio Baigún
51. top right. Bronis e Drones/Shutterstock.com
51. bottom right. Liberato Giardiello/
Shutterstock.com
52. Gaston Fulquet,
Wetlands International LAC
53. Gaston Fulquet,
Wetlands International LAC
54. Gaston Fulquet,
Wetlands International LAC
55. GamudaLand
56. Mabelin Santos/Shutterstock.com
58. Yus Noor,
Wetlands International Indonesia
59. Yus Noor,
Wetlands International Indonesia
60. Copyright Jan van de Kam
62. Kuswantoro
63. top right. Copyright, Cynthia Bol as featured
in Water Lands, Harper Collins, 2020.

63. bottom right. Yus Noor,
Wetlands International Indonesia
64. Dushyant Mohil,
Wetlands International South Asia
65. Dushyant Mohil,
Wetlands International South Asia
66. Wetlands International South Asia
67. Maafaka Ravelona
68. Karounga Keita,
Wetlands International Sahel
70. Wetlands International Sahel
71. top right. Jane Madgwick
71. bottom right. Lip Kee, African Sacred Ibis
Threskiornis aethiopicus CF2P0061, Flickr,
Creative Commons
72. Copyright, Amit Bansal as featured in thebook Water Lands, Harper Collins, 2020.
73. Wetlands International Sahel
74. Catay/Shutterstock.com
75. Pablo Rodriguez Merkel/Shutterstock.com
92. Copyright, Garcia Sabino/Dennis Horgan asfeatured in Water Lands, Harper Collins
2020.

Wetlands Annual Review 201993

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Wetlands Annual Review 2019