THE SOURCE

2022 Annual Review of
Wetlands International

WETLANDSINTERNATIONAL
IS THE ONLY GLOBALNOT-FOR-PROFITORGANISATION
DEDICATED TO THE
CONSERVATION
AND RESTORATIONOF 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 andevery type of region – polar, tropical, wet, dry, high andlow altitude.
Healthy wetlands are key to restoring nature and healing
our climate, yet the world has lost up to 65% of its
original wetlands. Urgent action is needed to reverse thisdecline and revive these natural wonders.
Our Vision
A world where wetlands are treasured
and nurtured for their beauty, 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.

Fishermen are fishing in Yamuna river, India

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Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

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ANNUALREVIEW
2022
CONTENT

12

24

36

52
Julio Fernandes

FROM
THE SUPERVISORYCOUNCIL
14

53

GLOBALBIODIVERSITY FRAMEWORKTRANSFORMING
FOODSYSTEMS

Andrés Fraiz

54

62

FUNCTIONING OF THE
ORGANISATION
73
Paul Mbatia

6

STRATEGIC
INTENT
16

31

43

Laura Mackenzie

Heajin Park

32

44

74

MANGROVE
BREAK
THROUGHFROMOUR CEO
8

HIGHLIGHTSGLOBALVOICESFORWETLANDSACHIEVEMENTS

35
Lilian Nyaega

59

SUMMARYOF
FINANCEAND RESOURCING
78

Anteneh WorkuRESTORINGWETLAND
NATURE60

OUR
OFFICESTHANKYOUFROM OUR CEO
Jane Madgwick,
Chief Executive Officer, Wetlands International

2022 was a significant year for the world’s wetlands and we are starting tosee broad recognition and increased investments in wetland conservation andrestoration, as a central part of efforts to address the climate and biodiversity
crises. Guided by our Strategic Intent, we continued to leverage the benefitsof our local presence, technical expertise and partnerships, and connected
this with influencing global dialogues, policies, and investments to accelerate
the transformation of major wetland landscapes for resilience.

Receiving global recognition through the UN for leading
one of the first, best ecological restoration programmes – inthe mangrove coast of Demak, Indonesia – is testament tothe ability of Wetlands International to design and curatecomplex, science-based landscape transformations throughequally complex local and global partnerships and financestreams. Such initiatives are increasingly becoming global
models and sources of inspiration. This example proved that
it is possible to turn around even the most severe wetland
degradation in just a few years, provided that the plan isbased on a sound understanding of the causes and that asystems approach to restoration is taken and driven by all
local stakeholders.

Jane Madgwick, CEO, Wetlands International

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Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

Throughout 2022, we brought evidence, proposed sciencebased targets and showcased proven pathways for upscaling
action for wetlands to the global policy fora of the Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands, the UN Climate Convention andConvention on Biological Diversity - to bring to the fore
the role of freshwater and coastal wetlands as the criticalwater systems linking land and sea. The evident increased
emphasis on wetlands - especially peatlands and mangroves- in the dialogues and commitments on climate mitigation
and adaptation, and the inclusion of wetlands in the eventual
Global Biodiversity Framework for 2030, are together anabsolute triumph. Equally, the “Mangrove Breakthrough” that
was announced by the UN High Level Climate Championsin 2022 will drive massive investment and mobilisation ofstate and non-state actors, was inspired and based on datafrom the Global Mangrove Watch that Wetlands International
convened, as well as our work as part of the powerful Global
Mangrove Alliance.

Start of the Blue Nile, Ethiopia

This shows the value of bringing together systems of actors
to address global challenges – Wetlands International
has an excellent track record and platform from which toconvene actors in this way. The participation and dialogues
in these global fora also pointed to some new opportunities,
including the rapidly growing demand to better connect
actions for climate and nature. Wetlands can be an excellent
entry point for countries, companies, cities and citizens
committed to nature and climate positive transitions, byvirtue of their central role as carbon sinks, in capturing,storing and regulating water and nutrients and in adaptation
to climate change.
The report on achievements in 2022, put in the context of ourlonger-term goals, highlight that progress is not always linear
and programmes need to be highly adaptive. We are grateful
to be working closely in partnership with major donors who
provide a long-term financial commitment to our ambitious
goals and give good space for us to innovate in driving
towards our ambitions. In addition to our major donors, I am
grateful to our members, partners and supporters working
tirelessly to safeguard and restore wetlands for people andnature. We also invested in new staff functions and capacity
development across our office network, laying a strong
foundation for the work yet to be done.
As I write this piece, I recently started my new role as thefirst Executive Director of the Global Commons Alliance - agrowing, science-based coalition that aims to engage andequip companies, countries, cities and citizens so that they
become effective stewards of the interconnected systems(water, nature, land, air and ocean) on which life depends
upon. There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity
to avoid dangerous tipping points and instead secure an
environmentally safe and socially equitable future for ourplanet. I believe that Wetlands International and its extensive
set of collaborators and supporters, have an important role toplay in this urgent transition and I am proud to continue myinvolvement as a Counsellor of Honour.
Thank you for your continued interest and active support.

Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

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HIGHLIGHTS“Wetlands 4
Resilience”
A new 10-year partnership with the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency
In December we secured a new partnership with Sida to
upscale healthy, biodiverse, and well-managed wetland
landscapes globally by 2030. The ten-year ambition
is to influence countries, institutions and sectors to
shift approaches, policies and investments towards
the regeneration of wetland landscapes. This responds
to and helps to mobilise and bring substance to theexisting global agendas set by Conventions and the SDGs.
Specifically, we will fill the current knowledge and capacity
gap on how to address wetlands and water resiliency
in landscape regeneration processes, by designing andsharing a tested, accessible, step-wise approach.
By showing and sharing results from a set of major
wetland landscapes in frontrunner countries for wetlandcommitments, we aim to inspire, mobilise and upscale
the global community to drive action forward for wetland
recovery and resilience building. Further, we aim to
influence the global community to set a conducive
environment to facilitate capacity development, policies
and investments for wetland landscapes worldwide. This
will ultimately bring positive impact for biodiversity andvulnerable communities that depend on healthy wetland
landscapes for their well-being and climate resilience.

Defining benchmark
conditions
for Voluntary
Carbon Markets
We published a timely report which reflects on the larger
debate of using voluntary carbon markets for land-use
projects and defines benchmark conditions for channellingcarbon finance to wetland interventions. Social-environmental
integrity is the all-decisive touchstone for climate andmarket success. A supply of high-quality credits which are
fair, equitable, and accepted by the leading carbon credit
verification bodies needs to be secured along with the
responsible corporate climate action.
Wetlands International has long supported efforts to amplify
financing to safeguard and restore wetlands. There is now
increasing interest among governments as well as non-state
actors in using carbon finance to help innovate and roll out
Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in general, and wetland habitats
in particular.
Private sector funding must be mobilised at scale and at
speed, and carbon markets offer a unique opportunity tochannel investment into wetlands. We are committed tosecuring a transparent, equitable, and just carbon market tosustain, safeguard, and restore our precious wetlands.
Read our report and position on voluntary carbon markets:

We will focus on large, iconic wetland landscapes andon influencing key processes - changes we would like to
see happen - to create suitable conditions for wetland
biodiversity and ecosystem functioning to recover, sobuilding resilience at a landscape scale, as a foundation
for sustainable development.
In the long-term, the programme will benefit tens of
millions of people who live in or nearby these large
wetland landscapes; vulnerable lakes, rivers and deltas.
By enhancing the supply and demand for holistic wetland
landscape restoration, we will enable synergies to berealised between biodiversity conservation, healthy
ecosystems and human rights, resulting in greater
resilience to socio-economic shocks and climate change.
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Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

https://www.wetlands.org/publications/the-voluntary-carbon-

Building with Nature in Indonesia

UN recognises
Building with Nature Indonesia
with World Restoration
Flagship award
The United Nations recognised the Building with NatureIndonesia initiative to protect Indonesia’s coast against
flooding as one of its inaugural World Restoration Flagships.
The project was selected as one of 10 pioneering efforts torevive the natural world, for its success in restoring mangrove
forests to form a natural barrier against the sea, and improving
the livelihoods of local communities.

Instead of simply planting mangroves, the initiative applied
an innovative approach using semi-permeable sea walls madeof natural materials to trap mud and sediments. Mangroves
then regrow naturally, with a survival rate of 70 percent– significantly higher than the 15-20 percent of planted
mangroves. The work will increase the resilience of 70,000
people to impacts of climate change.

The announcement came as leaders gathered in Montreal,
Canada for the UN Biodiversity Conference, where
governments from around the world agreed to a new set ofgoals for nature over the next decade.

For more information:market-for-safeguarding-and-restoring-our-wetlands/

The project was a joint effort between Wetlands International
and the Indonesian government, and part of a larger
collaboration that aims to advance the application of the
Building with Nature approach, integrating Nature-Based
Solutions in the design and implementation of water
infrastructure practice, to boost the local economy, community
resilience and biodiversity enhancement.

https://www.wetlands.org/news/un-recognises-building-withnature-indonesias-efforts-with-world-restoration-flagship-award/
https://www.wetlands.org/publications/building-with-nature-inindonesia-restoring-an-eroding-coastline-and-inspiring-action-atscale-2015-2021/

Wetlands International Annual Review 20229Facilitating sharingof best mangrove
conservation
and restoration
practices in Africa
Wetlands International facilitated the development ofstrategic partnerships between the Atlantic Coast and theWestern Indian Ocean region to enable collaboration andmainstream best mangrove conservation and restoration
practices in Africa. The first of two learning exchanges washeld in Senegal in March and the second in Tanzania in
October. The exchanges so far have helped to:•Provide a platform for peer-to-peer exchanges aroundstrategies for mangrove conservation, including
lessons and best policy practices on mangrove
governance, restoration, community engagement,
innovation and financing, policy, monitoring impact
and community resilience;•

Disseminate best practice mangrove restoration
approaches and tools, for example to inspire
upscaling of Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR),
which generally survives and functions better
than conventional mass tree planting which fails
in approximately 80% of all mangrove restoration
initiatives. With EMR a broader set of interventions is
implemented that put in place socio-economic andbiophysical (hydrological and ecological) enabling
conditions for mangrove to grow back naturally. It isessential to create those conditions at scale in orderto yield meaningful results across wider landscapes.

•

Reinforce networks developed in the first phase of
the exchanges.

The exchanges brought together participants representing
communities, policymakers, civil society organisations,and researchers from 11 countries (Kenya, Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique,
Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and The Gambia).
Development Partners from the Swedish International
Development Agency’s Africa Regional Office were also
involved.
For more information:

From theperspective ofRepresentatives of the Global Mangrove
Alliance receive the Food Planet Prize

Plenary at COP14

Special members,
partners
and supporters
event atRamsar COP14
Wetlands International organised a special event for members,
partners and supporters on the sidelines of the Ramsar
COP14 in November in Geneva, an opportunity to meet again
in-person in an informal setting and to share insights into
promising initiatives and collaborations around the world thatare scaling up wetland recovery for people and nature.
There was widespread recognition of the opportunity toensure the inclusion of wetlands in the Global Biodiversity
Framework to be agreed at CBD COP15 later in the year,
through the Resolutions of Ramsar COP14. Speakers andparticipants also discussed the urgency and need for bettercollaboration and stronger partnerships on scaling up action
for biodiverse, healthy wetlands, and the critical role of
Wetlands International in convening such action.
With more than 100 people attending from government,
civil society, academia and staff from around the network,
we heard from André Hoffmann, prominent businessleader, champion of wetlands and philanthropist; Jerker
Tamelander, Director of Science and Policy of the Ramsar
Secretariat; and Guangchun Lei, representative of theChinese government and Chair of Ramsar STRP.

“Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
in recent decades have been insufficient andglobal temperatures are expected to reachor exceed 1.5°C in the next 20 years unlessthere are rapid, sustained and large-scale
reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Similarly, the state of the world’s biodiversity
is rapidly deteriorating, with more species
than ever threatened with extinction which,
together with the increasing impacts ofclimate change (such as droughts andfloods), threatens the livelihoods of all
people, especially the most vulnerable.
One of the causes of global biodiversity loss
is that for centuries the world’s wetlands
have been considered unusable, and havebeen rapidly drained for other purposes.
Where wetlands still exist, they play a key
role. Both for biodiversity and, as a result,the ecosystem services they provide, and forclimate change mitigation.
The destruction of wetlands can lead to a
net emission of greenhouse gases, but more
importantly when the great capacity ofwetlands to produce biomass is destroyed,
they do not bind carbon dioxide from theatmosphere.
Wetlands International is a leading globalorganisation for wetland conservation
through its focus on protecting andrestoring these areas that are especially
important to the vulnerable and often
marginalised communities living in andaround them.”

Global Mangrove
Alliance wins
the Food Planet
Prize
The Global Mangrove Alliance - of which Wetlands
International is a founding member - received one of two USD
2 million 2022 Food Planet Prizes, to further work towards ourAlliance goal to Halt Loss, Restore Half, and Double Protectionof mangroves globally by 2030 and help support on-thegroundwork linked to food security through our National
Chapters initiative.
The Food Planet Prize awards initiatives that solve the dilemmaof feeding a growing world population while saving a planet inperil, with the aim of rapidly scaling up their initiatives.
Mangrove deforestation has resulted in a steep decline inmangrove crabs and fish, hurting communities’ ability tosustain themselves and their families. With support from
GMA member organisations, communities around theworld are taking up mangrove conservation leadership,
replanting mangroves, and ensuring that resource harvestingis sustainable. As a result, crabs and fish are returning andmangrove beekeeping and other alternative livelihood
programs have arisen in some communities, furthering thebenefits community members can receive from the coastal
ecosystems.
For more information:
https://www.mangrovealliance.org/news/winning-the-food-planetprize/

https://www.wetlands.org/blog/wetlands-internationalmangrove-conservation-and-restoration-practice-in-africa/

https://www.wetlands.org/news/global-mangrove-alliance-winsthe-food-planet-prize/

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Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

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FROM THE
SUPERVISORYCOUNCIL

Jan Ernst de Groot

Miguel Ángel Jorge

CHAIR

MEMBER (VICE CHAIR)

Wetlands
International
Supervisory
CouncilAngeliquevan de Beeten
MEMBER (TREASURER)(retired Dec 2022)(AND BOARD OF THE ASSOCIATION)
Jan Ernst de Groot, Chair
Miguel Ángel Jorge, Vice-Chair2022 was overall a very positive year for wetlands withthese precious ecosystems achieving high profile attention
in a series of global summits, culminating in the inclusion oftargets and key language highlighting the critical importanceof wetlands and inland waters in the Global Biodiversity
Framework, adopted in December under the Convention for
Biological Diversity. We would like to recognise the key role
played by our staff and our partners who advocated tirelessly
for wetlands throughout the year.

Scotland to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlandsby 2030. We were pleased that Wetlands International is
supporting this ambition, with knowledge and practical workon the ground. We’d like to thank Hans Schutten (Programme
Head Climate Ready Land-use) who facilitated the meetingsand visit for the Council.

Kazuaki Hoshino

Eliot Taylor

Adrie Papma

Hastings Chikoko

MEMBER (SECRETARY)MEMBERMEMBERMEMBERMEMBER(retired Dec 2022)(retired June 2022)

In addition to its responsibility to supervise theimplementation of the organisation’s strategy, annual
accounts and the annual review, the Council provided
guidance to the CEO and Management Team on a range of key
issues, in particular on a renewed fundraising strategy and on
strengthening the organisation’s human resources approach.
We were delighted to see that progress was made in
our international programmes, and in our organisational
capacities and systems, made possible by the support
provided by the COmON Foundation, the Dutch Postcode
Lottery, and the effective giving platform Effectiv Spenden.
Flexible funding is key for the organisation and enables
us to take larger steps towards the goals laid out in ourStrategic Intent, such as mobilising vehicles for upscaling
such as the Mangrove Breakthrough. We also started a newlong-term partnership on ‘Wetlands for Resilience’ with theSwedish International Development Agency (Sida), which
complements our work on the ‘4 Returns’ approach and will
make accessible knowledge and tools for wetland landscaperestoration to a wide range of collaborators. On behalf of theentire organisation, we would like to thank our partners fortheir support and trust in Wetlands International.

Nevertheless, this last year brought challenges, too. The
world was still confronting Covid at the start of the year. The
war in Ukraine meant we paused our activities in Russia,
and the energy and cost of living crisis has affected staff,
partners, communities and our funders alike.
The Council and Board of Association met regularly in 2022,
maintaining close relations with the CEO and Management
Team through our regular meetings. During our June Council
meeting, held in Stirling, Scotland, we were able to see firsthand the critical roles played by peatland in preserving
biodiversity, storing water and mitigating climate change.
In Scotland, we met representatives of the Government, the‘National Trust for Scotland’ and engaged companies suchas Diageo. The Council visited a peatland restoration site at
Flanders Moss where we were guided by ‘Nature Scotland’
staff and saw other sites nearby where restoration is juststarting as part of a national programme of action acrossIn 2022 we were delighted that Miguel Ángel Jorge accepted
the role of Vice Chair. We also said goodbye to two members,
Maggie White and Hastings Chikoko, after three years ofservice. Our thanks go to them for the support and inspirationthat they provided.

Maggie White“I thoroughly enjoyed my return to
Wetlands International this past
year and was struck by the major
progress the organisation has madesince 2016. I unfortunately had toresign as Chair in December, due
to accepting a new senior role atmy company. I would like to wish
the remaining members of theSupervisory Council and Board of
Association all the best in helping
Wetlands International succeed inits mission to inspire and mobilise
society to safeguard and restore
wetlands for people and nature.
I will continue to support from thesidelines.” Jan Ernst de Groot, Chair

Supervisory Council field visit to Flanders Moss, Scotland
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Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

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13

STRATEGIC INTENT
2020-2030

UPSCALEMOBILISE

INSPIREINSPIREd

We measure our progress across thesethree streams according to the following
three interconnected global impacts andsix outcomes.

nds for a health
a
l
t
ier
we
wo
y
tl h
rl
a
HEALTYWETLANDS

COAST & DELTASOur vision, targets and strategicinterventions are shaped according tolandscapes. We focus on three broad
categories of wetland landscapes:
Coasts and Deltas, rivers and lakes, andpeatlands. “Streams” of work are definedaccording to the specific contexts ofthese wetland landscape types.

He

Over 2020-2030 Wetlands International aims to safeguard and restore tens of
millions of hectares of wetlands, bringing multiple returns for nature and people.
Our theory of change encapsulates the three main phases of our work: to inspire,
mobilise and upscale. These are the key ingredients of our organisational strategy
for the period 2020-2030.

For this period, we are orientating ourwork to achieve three, interconnected
global impacts: healthy wetlands,
resilient wetland communities, andreduced climate risks.

RESILIENTCOMMUNITIESRIREDUCED
CLIMATE RISKS

VE
RS

&

LA

KE

S
PEATLANDS

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Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

OUR THEORYOF CHANGEMOBILISEUPSCALE

We:

We:

We:

- Share insights andknowledge- Enable dialogues- Build coalitions around- Design integrated
landscape scale plans- Encourage innovation- Influence agendas

Healthy Wetlands
Wetland habitats andfunctions safeguarded
and restored
We aim to help conserve a selectionof the most intact wetland ecosystems
and restore others within a full range
of wetland types across the world. We
also aim to restore other freshwater
systems, peatlands, deltas and coastal
ecosystems for their intrinsic, culturaland ecosystem-service values. We
will prioritise ecological networks thatconnect landscapes, such as flyways
and swim-ways.

Wetlandspecies
recovered
Building on our long track record
for waterbird conservation, we willcontribute to the conservation of
wetland biodiversity by working on
selected flagship species and groups ofspecies linked to specific habitats.

shared vision- Identify and pilot
landscape solutions

Resilient Communities
Water and foodsecured for wetlandcommunities
We aim to prevent further wetland loss
and degradation that undermines thenatural productivity and water storage
capacities of peatlands, floodplains,mangrove forests, deltas and lakes.
We aim to improve and diversify the
livelihoods of people dependent on
wetlands, and promote best practices inagriculture and aquaculture, integrating
wetland values into the local economy.

Reduced societal
conflict and displacement from wetlands
We will in particular strive to resolve
situations where deterioration of
wetlands - caused by upstream
abstraction, climate change or
population growth - contributes to lossof livelihoods, human displacement,
conflict and migration. Where
necessary, we will use peacebuilding
and conflict resolution measures
to address imbalanced power
relations between stakeholders,building capacity for vulnerable andmarginalised people to defend theirrights to water and wetland resources.

- Transform policies andattract investments- Improve standards andbehaviours of companies

Reduced Climate Risks
Wetland carbon
stores secured andenhanced
We aim to bring wetlands into activities
to adapt to and mitigate climate change,
which is otherwise a threat to theintegrity of all wetlands. Improving thecondition of peatlands, river systems
and coastal ecosystems such as
mangroves, salt marshes and seagrassbeds will also reduce their emissions ofgreenhouse gases and return many totheir role as carbon sinks.

Wetland Nature-based
Solutions integrated
into infrastructuredevelopments
We aim to steer urban water
infrastructure investment and land use
planning towards using wetlands tomeet challenges such as water insecurity
and flooding that are conventionallyaddressed by civil engineering - anapproach that often causes further loss
and deterioration of wetlands.

Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

15

ACHIEVEMENTS

climate change and biodiversity loss. The inclusion of wetland
targets in the CBD’s Global Biodiversity Framework, resulting
from engaging in diverse lobby groups, makes Wetlands
International more relevant than ever and provides significant
leverage for public and private sector investments in the
coming decade.
We are proud of the results that were achieved at global,
regional, national and local level. Highlights include:

This chapter presents our 2022 achievements.
These are organised along our three streams of work
(Coasts and Deltas, Rivers and Lakes, and Peatlands)
and in relation to the ambitions laid out
in our Strategic Intent 2020-2030.
The section below summarises progressin 2022 towards the 10-year targets.

Impact Area - Healthy Wetlands•••

Our influential 2022 State of the World’s Mangroves
report that led to the launch of the Mangrove
Breakthrough at COP27 aiming to leverage USD 4 billion
to secure the future of 15 million hectares of mangroves
globally by 2030.
A new 10 year partnership with the Swedish International
Development Agency to upscale healthy, biodiverse,
and well managed wetland landscapes globally by 2030,
contributing to climate resilience and environmental,social and economic sustainability.
A new Ramsar protected Wetland in Argentina, covering an
area of 350.000 hectares of valuable peatlands, a key step
towards its conservation.

Impact Area - Resilient Wetland Communities•

OUR
SCORINGSYSTEMOn track to exceed
target (we willachieve the target
before 2030)

We expect toachieve the target by
2030
Substantial progress,
but more time isneeded to reach ourtargetSo far, there is no
significant overall
progress

The situation isdeteriorating andwe can’t manage tomake improvements

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Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

All of our achievements are the result of our Wetlands
International teams working around the world with our many
partners in local, national and international networks acrossthe world. The achievements selected below are part of a longterm results framework and build partly on activities alreadystarted in previous years.

•

We reached 143,000 coastal zone and natural resource
management professionals, raising awareness about
the contribution of mangroves to food security andopportunities for improving production systems throughlarge-scale mangrove restoration.
We worked with land users to implement better
management practices on more than 46,000 hectares of•floodplain habitats under production (largely cattle raising/ livestock) in the Paraná Delta in Argentina and thePantanal wetlands in Brazil.
As a result of our advocacy efforts, the EU is shifting its
stance and accepting the significant role that improved
peatland protection, increased paludiculture (wetpeatland farming) and carbon farming can bring to theGreen Deal implementation.

Impact Area - Reduced Climate Risks•••

Our Building with Nature Indonesia initiative was praisedby the UN and given the inaugural World Restoration
Flagship award.
We enhanced the design of a wetland offset project of amulti-billion investment infrastructure project in Manila
Bay, Philippines, such that it will restore thousands ofhectares of healthy mangroves while enhancing resilienceand livelihoods of local communities.
In the High Andes of Peru, we worked with the herdercommunities to change their land management practices,
resulting in 2,400 hectares of peatlands under improved
livestock grazing management offering sustainable
income in harmony with nature.

Setbacks
Not everything went according to plan. The war in Ukraine
directly affected our peatland restoration efforts in Russia
that were put on hold. The ensuing global energy crises led tohigher costs requiring us to deliver the same ambitious impact
with fewer resources. Further, the tight and competitive job
market is limited our ability to attract the required capacity todeliver our programmes.

We highlight those achievements where Wetlands
International’s role or contribution has been significant.

Our progress
At the end of 2022, we have achieved important resultsbuilding a solid foundation for future mobilisation andupscaling towards our 2030 targets. Shaping, collating andsharing knowledge, building capacity, developing partnerships
with governments and non-state actors to scale up, andsecuring funding to support our work - are critical to our longterm success and central to our upscaling strategy.
Large-scale, partnership-based, long-term wetland landscapeinitiatives are now underway in Africa, Asia, Europe andLatin America which will ultimately secure conservation anddevelopment benefits for people and nature across millionsof hectares. Sometimes the number of hectares we havedirectly safeguarded and restored so far is relatively small,but designed to trigger landscape-scale impact through themobilisation of other actors. Where possible we mention theindirect landscape-scale impact we envision.
In the last quarter of 2022, we capitalised on global
convention meetings (Ramsar COP14, UNFCCC COP27, and
CBD COP15) to drive impact by positioning wetlands morethan ever as a crucial solution to the intertwined challenges of“Dutch Postcode Lottery
funding has had a catalytic
effect on our work, enabling
us to generate much larger
funding, influence andimpacts needed to safeguard
and restore the world’s
wetlands”
Jane Madgwick, CEO.

DUTCH POSTCODE
LOTTERY
Dutch Postcode Lottery support has enabled us, throughtargeted seed investments, to build strategic global
and regional partnerships to mobilise and upscale thesafeguarding and restoration of wetlands. In 2022,
highlights include our Building with Nature Indonesia
initiative recognised by the UN as one of its inaugural World
Restoration Flagships, and successfully influencing the design
for a large wetland offset project to compensate for a multibillion infrastructure project in Manila Bay, Philippines.
These results, among others, were made possible throughstrengthening our fundraising approaches and capacity,
developing new donor relationships, investing in staff
capabilities in our communications and technical teams,
and creating outreach materials and tools to influence
government and business.

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17

COASTS & DELTAS
2022
Our goal is to safeguard and restore coastal wetland ecosystems as essential
features of resilient and productive coastal landscapes.
We will achieve our goal by tailoring our work to the different contexts wetypically encounter in our target areas,ranging from heavily degradedor modified coastal areas to intact wetland landscapes.

Healthywetlands
By 2030, we aim to safeguard
2 million hectares of highvalue coastal wetlands,
including those sites whichmake up vital wildlife
migration corridors.
We made strong progress towards reaching
our target of 2 million hectares. If we securecommitments under the GMA, we will move beyond
our target in the next few years.

Through the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) that we
co-founded and in collaboration with the UN Climate
Change High-level Champions, we launched the Mangrove
Breakthrough at UNFCCC COP27. The Breakthrough calls fora unified global approach towards mangrove conservation
aiming to leverage USD 4 billion to secure the future of 15
million hectares of mangroves globally by 2030.
The Mangrove Breakthrough was informed and inspired by ourState of the World’s Mangroves reports, based on data fromthe Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) platform. The reports and
GMW are key elements in our upscaling strategy and have18

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also led to increased reporting on mangrove status change by
Ramsar signatories and actively used by blue carbon investors.
To further promote the use and value of GMW, we organised
the first massive open online course attended by thousandsof practitioners, as well as the first-ever in-person training for
mangrove practitioners from the Western Indian Ocean region.
Consequently, mangrove management is now informed bystandardised and peer-reviewed global information on nearreal-time mangrove losses and gains and the drivers thereof.
This enables targeted and efficient interventions and improved
monitoring.
We restored 850 hectares of mangroves using EcologicalMangrove Restoration in Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania, Kenya
and Senegal, and mobilised others to restore a further 580
hectares. These cases encourage a paradigm shift fromtraditionally unsuccessful mass-planting approaches to more
inclusive community-based restoration strategies than can bescaled up across coastal landscapes.
In Senegal, we helped facilitate the development of a nationalmangrove management plan to support community-based
restoration. We also developed sustainable management plansfor coastal landscapes in The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal,
Kenya, Tanzania and Indonesia, working with government,
NGOs and community groups. In total these plans cover over
400,000 hectares.
We trained wetlands managers across the Yellow Sea on ascience-based approach to monitoring and conservation.
This will ultimately result in better management of 300,000
hectares of wetland sites critically important for migratory
shore birds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Resilient wetlandcommunities
By 2030, we aim to integrate
wetlands into 8 million hectaresof coastal production systems.

We made major progress towards rehabilitatingproduction landscapes and furthering ongoing
dialogues with ASC and others.

We reached 143,000 coastal zone and natural resource
management professionals, raising awareness about thecontribution of mangroves to food security and opportunities
for improving production systems (aquaculture, rice farming)
through large-scale mangrove restoration. Building on thissuccess, the GMA was awarded the USD 2 million Food Planet

Reducedclimate risks
By 2030, we aim to mainstream
Building with Nature andpromote blue carbon solutions,influencing €10 billionof investments in coastal
infrastructure solutions.

Prize, which will be used to drive mangrove restoration toenhance food security on the ground.
We advised the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) on
strengthening safeguards for mangroves in its certification
criteria, providing a basis for enhanced conservation andincreased restoration of mangroves in shrimp farms that are or
will be under ASC certification.
Together with the Global Green Growth Institute, we secured
a EUR 16 million contribution from the Government of Canada
to bring mangroves back in the Kayan-Sembakung and
Mahakam deltas in Indonesia. Ultimately we aim to restore theecological integrity of at least 300,000 hectares of mangroves
and associated ecosystems.
Over 22,000 people benefitted from sustainable livelihood
activities in mangrove areas in Africa. We provided them withtraining, materials for alternative income generating activities,
improving value chains for their produce, and other measures.
For example, our energy-efficient improved cook stovesprogramme in Matondoni, Kenya has decreased mangrove
wood fuel consumption, improved heat retention, and reduced
smoke. This initiative has brought tangible improvements tothe lives of communities, contributing to a more sustainable
and healthier environment.

Building with Nature Asia seeks to leverage investment in
Nature-Based Solutions to increase the resilience of 30 million
vulnerable people in cities and settlements along vulnerable
coasts and rivers by 2030 across the continent. Potential
implementation projects have been explored in Malaysia,
Indonesia, the Philippines, and India to connect the regional
platform with national initiatives. We have also developeda resource mobilisation strategy to raise €30-50 million for
Building with Nature Asia and secure funding for the next
phase of the program within a year.

Our efforts to mobilise Building with Nature Asia haveslowed due to difficulties in recruitment for key roles
in resource mobilisation.

We published a Policy Paper ‘Voluntary Carbon Markets for
Wetland Conservation and Restoration’ and used it in public
consultations of emerging standards, leading to improved
Race2Zero Criteria and High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles.
These principles are used by investors such as Mirova andClimate Asset Management that have made significant pledges
to invest in ‘natural capital’ including mangroves.

The UN recognised our Building with Nature Indonesia
initiative to protect Indonesia’s coast against flooding as oneof 10 inaugural World Restoration Flagships. Building on thisflagship example, Wetlands International is promoting uptakeof the approach in Indonesia, Philippines, India, Malaysia andChina, and other countries over time, in collaboration with theIndonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, EcoShapeand One Architecture.

Our Asia Times op-ed set the agenda for sustainable
developmentin Manila Bay, calling for adherence tointernational Environmental Social Governance standards
and for integration of nature in infrastructure designs.
Since, we have helped public and private actors to put inplace safeguards for maintaining biodiversity, we ensured
community-based participative planning and identified
opportunities for infrastructure and urban development thatyield a net positive impact for communities. These efforts
resulted in uptake of safeguards in the Manila Bay Sustainable
Development Masterplan.
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RIVERS & LAKES
2022
Our Goal is to catalyse investment to safeguard and restore rivers,
lakes and their accompanying wetlands, as part of wider freshwater systems;
and to provide water security for people and nature, climate resilience,and sustainable and peaceful landscapes.

Healthywetlands
By 2030, we aim to safeguard
10 million hectares ofhigh value river and lake
wetlands, focusing on fivebasins.
Developing and implementing management plans inIndia and Argentina, coupled with upscaling potential
in the Rift Valley, means we are on track in 2022.

We secured a new 10 year partnership with the Swedish
International Development Agency to upscale healthy,
biodiverse, and well managed wetland landscapes globallyby 2030, aiming to achieve global influence of countries,
institutions and sectors, resulting in shifts in approach,policies and investments towards the regeneration of
wetland landscapes.

Resilient wetlandcommunities
By 2030, we aim to safeguard
and restore 60 million hectaresof wetlands as integral elements
of productive river and lakelandscapes.
While field innovations and partnership development
are showing great promise in many regions, theestablishment of and investment in mechanisms
to drive upscaling are lagging behind our earlier
expectations. Programmes to scale our work are in thepipeline and they will accelerate progress.

In the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia, we restored over 2,000
hectares of degraded watersheds, lakes and wetland areas,through our integrated landscape restoration interventions,and showcased 1,000 hectares of buffer zones protecting Lake
Ziway from impacts from intensive agriculture. Further southin the Omo-Gibe sub-basin, we restored nearly 1,000 hectaresof degraded high value wetlands, and started dialogues onwater use and on a transboundary ecoregion vision for thearea together with stakeholders across the border in Turkana
Province (Kenya), where we initiated enhanced rangeland
management through the re-seeding with native species
benefitting 15,000 stakeholders.

In Mali and Ethiopia, we piloted technological innovations
for reducing the impacts of smallholder farming on wetland
landscapes, including through bunding to reduce upstream
soil erosion, vermiculture to reduce dependence on expensive
chemical fertilisers, re-planting of slopes with indigenous andincome-generating tree species, and more efficient use ofwater in irrigated vegetable production, leading to increased
household production, improved incomes and a better
environment for farmers.
In the Lake Turkana basin in Kenya, we assisted stakeholders
in small-scale demonstrations – a start towards larger ambition- to switch to climate-smart farming and resilient livelihood
activities, including animal fodder, vegetables and agroforestry, and sustainable fishing.

We prepared integrated management plans for nearly 300
wetlands in sub-basins of the Ganga River in India, covering
almost 1.9 million hectares, while preparations were began forpossible listing as a Ramsar Site of Ottu Lake in Haryana state.
In Argentina, we developed and began implementationof management plans for more than 2 million hectares of
wetlands along the Paraná -Paraguay fluvial corridor, covering
the world’s largest tropical wetland in the Pantanal, together
with Iberá Marshes and the Paraná Delta, while the Paraná
Delta Biodiversity Corridor initiative was formally adopted by
the Argentina Ministry of Environment. We also completed the
management plan of the Pozuelos Biosphere Reserve covering
364,000 hectares in the High Andes.

Our work with development, economic, and funding partners
on sustainable agriculture, reduced water consumption,and integrated planning continues to break new ground,safeguarding precious wetland resources in some of the mostfragile environments in the world.
We worked with land users to implement better management
practices on more than 46,000 hectares of floodplain habitats
under production (largely cattle raising / livestock) in the
Paraná Delta in Argentina and the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil,
while in the High Andes, we encouraged stakeholders totransition to improved livestock grazing on more than 21,000
hectares in the Argentinian Puna, contributing to wetlands andwater resources conservation.

Reducedclimate risks

We focused on building both the proofs of concept and thealliances of partners required to mobilise finance for thewidespread deployment of nature-based freshwater solutions.

By 2030, we aim that €500
million is committed to enable
Nature-Based Solutionsin freshwater wetlands,
for climate mitigation andadaptation.

In Sahelian Africa, we organised a Roundtable meeting in
Bamako, Mali during which senior executives from 3 river basin
authorities, 6 countries and 5 major bilateral donors crafteda declaration recognising wetlands restoration as a force forpeace, security and stability in the region coupled with aplan of action. Important as a lever to mobilise governmentand donor commitment to work in the region, the declaration
is an important step to mobilise commitments to wetland
restoration and related programming.

We saw limited progress in terms of actual impact
on the ground in 2022. We expect progress to be
exponential over time as we build the foundations
for scaling up. We continue to position ourselves andmobilise partners.

We continued to build our large-scale Blue Lifelines for a
Secure Sahel initiatives with partners, governments, andinternational organisations, and which aims to mobilise largescale investment to restore 30 million hectares of wetland andincrease the resilience of 20 million people.
In the Himalaya in India, we facilitated the economic valuationof key landscape functions to build resilience and secure EUR
5 million investments for Nature-based Solutions for climatechange adaptation.

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PEATLANDS
2022
Our Goal is to scale up the conservation and restoration of peatlands as acontribution to biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation andadaptation, and sustainable development. For this, it is vital to ensure that all
remaining undrained peatlands stay intact, while 50 million hectaresof drained peatlands are restored by 2050.

Healthywetlands
By 2030, we aim to safeguard
over 20 million hectares ofhigh value peatlands, including
bringing 5 major peatland
landscapes back into good
ecological condition.
We have started work in 4 major peatland
landscapes – in Peru, Mongolia, Poland and Sweden.
We have also focused on building capacity andknowledge sharing, part of our strategy to mobilise
towards safeguarding 20 million hectares.

We developed landscape restoration propositions for Lake
Junin in Peru and central valley peatlands in Mongolia. We
also developed propositions for the Oder Delta in Poland
and Norrbotten in Sweden with our partner Rewilding Europe
to test a commercial peatland restoration model based oncarbon value. We also explored opportunities to unlock
carbon finance for peatland restoration in six other European
countries, paving the way for upscaling.

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Shaping, collating and sharing knowledge to enable others totake action on peatlands is central to our upscaling plan, andwe built partnerships such as the EU-funded WaterLANDS and
Wet Horizons (EU Horizon 2020). We updated the wetlands
and peatlands database for Europe, providing the evidence
needed for governments and policymakers to act and track
restoration progress.
We used such evidence to influence the EU Nature Restoration
Law and Carbon Farming regulations under development. The
former sets legally binding peatland restoration targets andnow includes wetlands outside of protected sites, providing
a strong basis for upscaling peatland restoration by farmers
and rural communities in Europe. The latter sets the stage formobilising carbon finance for wetlands.
To rewet 500,000 hectares of degraded peatlands in Europe,
we facilitated learning and coordinated action across Europe
by leading knowledge exchange on peatland restoration
carbon standards, bringing together stakeholders form
Germany, Poland and Lithuania. Beyond Europe, we stimulatedSouth-South knowledge exchange and learning between Asia
and Africa resulting in uptake of best practices on peatland
restoration across our network and stakeholders.
We supported the Government of Argentina to designate a
new Ramsar protected wetland covering an area of 350.000
hectares of valuable peatlands, by developing the Peninsula
Mitre’s Ramsar site Information Sheet - a key step towards
securing its conservation.

Resilient wetlandcommunities
By 2030, we aim to enablecommunity based conservation
and restoration of 10 million
hectares of peatlands.

While a solid foundation to reach the target by 2030
has been set, influencing EU policy has been slower
than expected. The global uptake is also not as quickas anticipated.

Reducedclimate risks
By 2030, we will reduce theimpact of peat-based industriesin 10 million hectares ofpeatlands, with a focus on palmoil, pulp and timber.
Through the RSPO, we worked to influence and reducethe impact of oil palm plantations (as well as pulp andtimber) on vast areas of peatlands. We are on track in
2022 to deliver by 2030.

We reduced the climate impact of peat-based industries by
influencing commodity chains that produce on peatlands tochange practices, such as palm oil, pulp and timber, and bypromoting sustainable commodities.

In the High Andes of Peru, we worked with the herdercommunities to change their land management practices,
resulting in 2,400 hectares of peatlands under improved
livestock grazing management offering sustainable income inharmony with nature.
We clarified barriers and enablers for scaling up wetland
restoration and make it a part of the Green Deal transition in
Europe. This information helped inform decision-makers andexperts engaged in peatland restoration in Europe.
As a result of our advocacy efforts, the EU is now shifting
its stance and accepting the significant role that improved
peatland protection, increased paludiculture (wet peatland
farming) and carbon farming can bring to the Green Deal
implementation. Including these aspects in the Common
Agriculture Policy is key for upscaling since it will drive thelargest farm-subsidy stream in Europe and help ensure thatpeatlands are recognised in the new EU Carbon Farming
initiative.

Through the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, wedeveloped Drainability Assessment training modules anddelivered training in East and West Kalimantan (Indonesia)
for RSPO members. The training has the potential to influence
practices on 4.5 million hectares of plantations under the
RSPO scheme.
We advocated on the EU’s external trade policy that reduces
the import of ‘deforestation’ related commodities, including
deforestation for palm oil and pulp plantations. We see this asa major upscaling mechanism which can result in real impact.
Playing the role of critical friend on the Board of Responsibly
Produced Peat, we pushed to transform the industry fromexcavating peat for growing media to growing peatmoss andrewetting the underlying peatlands. Financially supportedby the Dutch government, RPP is recognised in the Dutch
Growing Media Covenant signed in 2022 to phase out
extracted peat in the short-term for the domestic market
and in medium-term for the professional market while
ensuring that all peat used in this transition comes from least
environmentally impacting methods.
In Brunei, we supported the Biodiversity Action Plan
developed for a corporate in rehabilitating degraded wetland
areas within the Belait District, one of the last almost intact
peat swamps and an important bird area.

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GLOBAL
BIODIVERSITYFRAMEWORK
By Fred PearceWas 2022 a watershed moment for the world’s wetlands?
We may have entered a new era for wetland restoration andconservation. Because, for the first time, a global agreement
aimed at halting and reversing biodiversity loss has put
inland waters and coastal ecosystems centre-stage.

Aerial view of the Pantanal Wetlands, Brazil

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Negotiators havedivided the world
between terrestrial andmarine ecosystems,
largely forgetting
the crucial interfaces
between land and sea.

Jane Madgwick, CEO, Wetlands International speaking at COP15 in Montreal, Canada

Since the Convention on Biological Diversity was signed at
the Earth Summit thirty years ago, wetlands have often beensidelined in its agreements. Negotiators have divided theworld between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, largely
forgetting the crucial fluvial interfaces between land andsea, and the flowing waters that lubricate almost every otherecosystem, while being home to an estimated 40 percent of
the world’s biodiversity.
Largely as a result, wetlands have been disappearing fasterthan other biomes, with freshwater species becoming extinct
twice as rapidly as terrestrial and marine species.
But hopefully no longer.

Global Biodiversity Framework
The Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted by 196 parties
to the Convention meeting in Montreal in December 2022, isthe most important global ecological agreement for a decade.
It commits nations to “halt and reverse biodiversity loss by
2030, including by protecting 30 percent of the planet by 2030.
It specifically targeted wetlands – ‘inland waters’ and ‘coastal
ecosystems’ in the language of the Convention, and for the firsttime agreed targets for their restoration.
Its Target 2 commits the world to ensuring that “by 2030,
at least 30 percent of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland
water, and coastal and marine ecosystems are under effective
restoration.” And Target 3, on conservation, promises that “by2030, at least 30 percent of terrestrial, inland water and coastal
and marine areas… are effectively conserved and managed.”

The breakthrough comes after many years of lobbying by agroup of wetlands-focused conservation groups, including
Wetlands International, which was present at the culminationof negotiations in Montreal.
The agreement is also notable for its explicit recognition of
the importance of Indigenous and traditional ownership andstewardship of wetlands to meeting the targets. This is crucial.
Wetlands International has long argued that buy-in from local
communities that use and manage wetlands is essential tosuccessful and equitable conservation.
Not everything we hoped for is included in the newagreement. We pushed for the restoration target to be
expressed in absolute numbers rather than percentages, andfor conservation and restoration of rivers to be singled out
with a target based on the length of rivers.

Ramsar Convention
Rivers link up wetlands and should be seen as wetlands intheir own right, as they are by the Ramsar Convention. Theirfragmentation – through dams and as their floodplains are
drained – is a major threat to the planet’s biodiversity. A
specific target for them would have underlined the importanceof connectivity in maintaining the health of wetland
ecosystems.
Still, with partners we calculated that the agreement’s 30-percent restoration target should, if properly implemented, bringback to full ecological health at least 350 million hectares ofinland water ecosystems, and 300,000 kilometres of rivers.
Close up of a young Jaguar standing in shallow water in Pantanal Wetlands, Brazil

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In recent years, wehave been engaged
in 29 restoration
projects on 14
types of wetlands
around the world.
Improvement of Agriculture as part of the SaWel project, Mali

Halt the loss of wetlands
But while pushing for wetland restoration, we must also halt
their loss. In many places, their demise continues, regardlessof international declarations. In 2022, Brazil’s Pantanal, theworld’s largest tropical swamp, suffered an epidemic ofwildfires, mostly set by invading ranchers. And China’s largest
freshwater lake, the Poyang on the floodplain of the River
Yangtze, all but dried out because it continues to be degradedby sand mining and agricultural drainage.
The year also saw the government of South Sudan seek torevive plans to divert the River Nile so it no longer maintained
the Sudd swamp, Africa’s second largest freshwater wetland.
And it ended with large areas of the Mesopotamian marshes ofsouthern Iraq turning to dust as Turkey impounded new dams
far upstream on the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.

Optimistic
Still, we remain optimistic. We believe our extensive wetlands
experience – from local water projects in the African Sahelto continental-scale river management in South America’s
four-nation Corredor Azul; and from the salt marshes aroundthe North Sea to the forest swamps of Borneo – gives us thetechnical, social and political expertise necessary to halt losses
and restore lost wetlands to meet the new targets.

Wetlands International, To Plant or Not to Plant (TPNTP) project site in Bulacan Province, Phillipines

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Good intentions
mean nothing
without action
on the ground.

LAURA MACKENZIESENIOR ADVOCACY OFFICER

Protests at UN Climate Change Conference COP27
in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

I’m Laura MacKenzie and I joined Wetlands International in May 2022, as a Senior Advocacy Officer basedin the global office in the Netherlands. Working closely with the team and colleagues across the Wetlands
International network, my role is all about influencing global policies and processes, building powerfulcoalitions, and advocating for increased investment in wetlands, with an emphasis on freshwater andbiodiversity. Wetlands International has a wealth of outstanding expertise, knowledge, and success stories
of wetland conservation and restoration for the benefit of people and nature, all of which are powerfulingredients for impactful advocacy.
My focus in 2022 was engagement with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and influencing around the Global
Biodiversity Framework, which was adopted in Montreal in December and included hugely positive provisions
for the future of wetlands. Meeting and collaborating with colleagues from all across the network, especially

We have in recent years been engaged in 29 restoration
projects on 14 types of wetlands around the world. We workwith a wide range of community and financial partners, andlocal and national governments, to scale up successes. For
instance, in 2022, China, India, the Philippines and Malaysia
signed up to replicate techniques we piloted in our awardwinning Building with Nature project in Indonesia that usednatural coastal processes to restore mangroves lost to shrimp
ponds.
But unless we tackle the root causes of wetland destruction– by transforming agriculture, ending harmful subsidies, andreorienting economic and financial systems to be positive fornature – the goals of this historic biodiversity agreement will
not be met.

African Sahel and Ethiopia’s Rift Valley
Wetlands International’s current work in the African Sahel andEthiopia’s Rift Valley, which we report on elsewhere in thisreview, exemplifies how we convene stakeholders to find new,more equitable ways of sharing water to protect wetlands
and maximise local wellbeing. The challenge is to take thoselessons to a global scale.

Growing recognition
The place given to wetlands in the new Global Biodiversity
Framework underlines and reinforces the critical advancesthat wetlands have made in environmental agendas – in part
because of the growing recognition of their importance inachieving climate and sustainability goals. Days before theMontreal conference, signatories to the long-standing Ramsar
wetlands convention met in Wuhan and Geneva and reinforced
the need for wetlands targets, and UN climate negotiators
meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, for the first time gave
wetlands equal prominence with forests as carbon stores thatcan deliver Nature-Based Solutions to climate change. And
the conference, with the Global Mangrove Alliance, launched
the Mangrove Breakthrough, a call to action for conserving
mangroves to both capture carbon and protect low-lying
coastlines from rising sea levels and worsening storms.

during the Ramsar Conference of Parties in November, was a highlight of the year. Our challenge now is toensure wetlands receive the attention they deserve as countries translate the new global biodiversity targets
into tangible national action plans and policies.
Growing up on a Scottish island, a connection with nature has shaped my perspective and career. With previous
roles across a range of environmental NGOs, and as a senior adviser and speechwriter in the UK Parliament
specializing in climate, nature, and economic policy and legislation, I bring extensive policy and advocacy
experience and expertise to the role.
Looking ahead, we need wetland protection and restoration to become a higher priority for decision makers
in all sectors, alongside action to address the underlying causes of wetland loss, and a shift towards naturepositive economic and financial systems. It’s exciting to be part of an organisation that encompasses initiatives
such as the Rights of Wetlands, which can also contribute to the transformative changes that the science shows
are urgently needed.

Wetlands have long been seen by many in the conservationworld as the poor relations of conservation. But in 2022 they
perhaps finally took their rightful place as critical ecosystems
in the fight to head off climate change, halt biodiversity loss
and achieve a sustainable world. But good intentions mean
nothing without action on the ground.
The hard work starts now.

Inverpolly, Scotland

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GLOBAL VOICESFORWETLANDS

Professor Johan Rockström

Annie Proulx

Joint Director of the Potsdam Institutefor Climate Impact Research

American novelist, short story writer,and journalist“To tackle the climate, food, nature, andenergy crises, water availability is of theessence. It is urgent that the world focuses
all attention on the double facts thatwater is the number one challenge forclimate adaptation due to droughts andfloods, and a key challenge for mitigation,
as there is no safe climate future well
below 2 degrees Celsius without afunctioning hydrological cycle.”“The problem with destroying the fens,
bogs and swamps is they are holding in
carbon dioxide and methane gas. And themore we rip them up, the more carbon
dioxide and methane comes floating into
the atmosphere and the faster the Earthwill be warming.”

Dr Musonda Mumba

Tony Juniper

Secretary Generalof the Convention on Wetlands

Chair of
Natural England“The science is clear, any scenario of
meeting our global climate goals means
radical protection and restoration of
wetlands – the fastest disappearing
ecosystem on the planet. Take peatlands,
our most efficient land-based carbon
store, we need to restore 25 million
hectares of lost peatlands before 2030 toachieve the level of mitigation action weneed to keep the Paris goal in reach.”“Wetlands can help to keep rivers
flowing, even when rain is scarce, thereby
protecting the living, shimmering threads
that bring life to the landscape. Water
standing on the land also helps recharge
the aquifers that underpin much of
our public water supply. Holding morewater in the environment through therestoration of wet ecosystems can reduce
flood peaks and protect us from the miseryof the flooding that periodically affects
communities across the country.”

https://ramsar.org/news/cop14-opens-with-a-hybrid-ceremony-in-wuhan-and-geneva

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/12/
britain-wetlands-drought-wildfires-floods-climate-change

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/11/1127959575/annieproulx-book-wetlands

https://www.sciencedaily.com/
releases/2022/11/221109085743.htm

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Inger Andersen
Under-Secretary-General of
the United Nations and Executive Directorof the UN Environment Programme

LILIAN NYAEGAThe way our food systems work puts
huge pressure on wetlands. We need tomove to peat-free, drainage-free anddeforestation-free supply-chains, throughinvesting in nature-positive agriculture
and sustainable land-use financing.
As individuals we need to change ourlifestyles and consumption patterns.

REGIONAL PROGRAMME OFFICER
I am Lilian Nyaega, currently serving as the Regional Programme Officer at the Eastern Africa Office of Wetlands
International. Over the past six years, I have had the privilege of working closely with communities that
directly interact with the ecosystems we strive to conserve and restore.
Working at Wetlands International brings me immense satisfaction as our efforts have a tangible andmeasurable impact on wetland conservation. Witnessing the positive outcomes of our work fuels my passion
for protecting these crucial ecosystems. Moreover, the collaborative and diverse nature of our team fosters anenvironment that challenges and rewards personal and professional growth.
My expertise lies at the intersection of environment, development, and policy, with a specific focus

https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/speech/wetlands-

on understanding the dynamic relationship between people and nature. I have dedicated my career toimportant-tool-build-resiliencecomprehending and strengthening the intricate interactions and interdependencies between human andnatural systems, which ultimately shape environmental outcomes. I am deeply committed to managing projects
that promote a holistic understanding of environmental issues, considering the social, cultural, economic, andecological aspects. This knowledge informs evidence-based policies and practices that foster sustainability
and resilience for both people and nature. Currently, my focus is on contributing to the integrated managementof socio-natural systems, acknowledging and leveraging these complex relationships for the benefit of bothcommunities and the environment.
This past year, I have been entrusted with additional responsibilities, which I view as a testament to theincreased trust and confidence placed in me by our team.
Based on our experience in conserving and restoring wetlands at scale, we have identified the importance ofstrong policy and governance frameworks that prioritise wetland restoration while engaging local communities
in decision-making processes. In addition, fostering partnerships and alliances among diverse stakeholders,
where resources and knowledge can be shared, can lead to more effective restoration outcomes. The recently
established Global Mangrove Alliance Kenya Chapter seeks to achieve precisely this!

African Wetlands

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TRANSFORMING
FOOD AND
AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS
By Fred Pearce

Groundwater springs are recovering their flows
and gushing onto mountainsides; native seedlings
are sprouting as the soils hold more moisture;lakes are refilling; migrating birds are returning;and so too is hope among farming communities,
where once there was despair at the state of their land.

Reseeding exercise taking place in Todonyang, Turkana County, Kenya

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“What we seehere is a small
beginning,but one thatbrings immense
hope for the
future”
CEO Jane Madgwick
Jane Madgwick, CEO, Wetlands International visits the Ziway-Shalla sub-basin, Ethiopia

Ziway-Shalla sub-basin
The scene is the Rift Valley in Ethiopia, a region whose lakes
and water resources have been stressed to breaking point by
growing human populations, climate change and industrialised
farming, including huge greenhouses that irrigate more than abillion roses sold in Europe every year. But over the past three
years, there has been an impressive transformation in part ofthe valley known as the Ziway-Shalla sub-basin - thanks to
our work to reverse the land degradation that comes from tree
clearance on hillsides and the overuse of scarce water. Instead,
there is a cycle of regeneration.
Centered on Lake Ziway, the basin’s only freshwater lake
and a vital source of water for more than two million people,
our projects work with smallholder farmers, livestock
herders, major water users and local administrators
to democratise water use, capture rains to percolate
underground; improve water allocation; boost irrigation
efficiency; and end deforestation in the surrounding hills
that has been silting up the lakes.
“What we see here is a small beginning, but one that brings
immense hope for the future” said Wetlands International
CEO Jane Madgwick after a visit in mid-2022. “Thousandsof community members have put their energy and effort into
rejuvenating their landscape. They have trusted our advice
and they are proud of the results. Now they own it, and we arethinking about how to scale it up. Because the need is vast andthe demand is huge.”

Agriculture is a major driver of wetland destruction andthe biggest user of the world’s water. The water troubles of
Ethiopia’s Rift Valley are a microcosm of its broken relationshipwith the water cycle. Too often, farmers destroy wetlands bydraining them to provide land for crops, then empty rivers
and lakes to provide irrigation. Combined with pollution fromagricultural nutrients and chemicals, the result is less cleanwater for everyone and long-term food insecurity undermined.
What we are attempting around Lake Ziway is one aspectof what needs to be achieved everywhere: protecting water
resources by enhancing the natural processes that captureand sustain water in the landscape. In so doing, we help
rural communities advance their needs while simultaneously
protecting and restoring nature.

Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel
Elsewhere in Africa, our Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel(BLiSS) project aims to restore 20 million hectares of vital
wetlands in the arid landscape on the fringes of the Sahara. At
the small scale, BLiSS is helping communities from the delta of
the River Senegal through the Inner Niger Delta to Lake Chadto manage their scarce water better.

Round table in Bamako
And at the large scale, in July 2022 we convened a high-level
round table in Bamako, under the chairmanship of Mali’s
minister for mining, energy and water, which gave politicalendorsement to safeguarding and restoring the region’s
degraded wetland ecosystems. That means, for instance,
managing flows through hydroelectric dams to ensure that

The Ziway-Shalla sub-basin

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We need to sustain
wetlands as natural
sponges to soak up floods
and mitigate droughts thatare intensifying
with climate change.

Round table in Bamako, under the chairmanship of Mali’s
minister for mining, energy and water

floodplains, wetlands and smallholder farmers downstream
get the water they need. To succeed, this work requires
changing minds as well as engineering and agricultural
practices. But we are making progress.

South America
In South America, on the Paraná delta in Argentina and thePantanal in Brazil, we have begun negotiating agreementswith livestock ranchers to encourage alternative livestockraising practices - including replacing cattle with water
buffalo - which protect these wetlands and guard against
a growing epidemic of wildfires. So far, these agreements
cover some 34,000 hectares. We are also developing wider
management plans for the Paraná delta and both the Kadiweu
Indigenous Territory and SESC Ramsar site on the Pantanal,
covering nearly 900,000 hectares. This work forms part ofour ten-year Corredor Azul initiative to protect the entire
floodplain of the Paraná -Paraguay river system throughthe heart of the continent, one of the world’s last large andlargely free-flowing rivers.

mitigate droughts that are intensifying with climate change.
Germany is learning this lesson after Europe’s worst flood
disaster in decades in the Eifel Mountains in 2021. The flood,in which more than 220 people died, was initially blamed on
extreme rainfall due to changing climate. But peer-reviewed
research published by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
in 2022 confirmed Wetlands International’s initial assessmentthat a major underlying factor was land-use changes, including
enhanced drainage in the upper catchments of the swollen
rivers. With their capacity to hold water drastically diminished,
the rain rushed rapidly downstream.

Asia
Degraded wetlands caused other similar disasters in 2022.
The September floods across Pakistan were made worse bypoor agricultural practices that had silted up wetlands onthe floodplain of the River Indus. Lake Manchar, one of South
Asia’s largest lakes, was so clogged that it rapidly burst its
banks, engulfing dozens of villages.

Spain
Germany
A key task in many landscapes is to change farming methods
to slow down the movement of rainwater and eroded soils
flowing off hillsides, through fields, to rivers. We need tosustain wetlands as natural sponges to soak up floods andSuch follies continued. In Spain, the Andalusian parliament
retrospectively legalised the widespread abstraction ofunderground water by strawberry farmers, which is drying up
the Doñana wetland, one of Europe’s most important wintering
grounds for waterfowl.

Fisherman of Parana-Paraguay corridor at work

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Paludiculture
offers bankablereasons forprotecting andrestoring ourwetlands.

South Sudan
And concerted opposition from Wetlands Internationaland others helped dissuade South Sudan from resuming
construction of a canal to divert the River Nile away fromAfrica’s second largest freshwater wetland, the Sudd. The idea
was to reduce evaporation in the swamp and so release morewater for agricultural irrigation, both locally and downstreamin Egypt. But draining the Sudd would have decimated wildlife,
altered local climate, and wrecked millions of livelihoods that
depend on the swamp.
“The Sudd needs to be recognised as a massive natural asset,
vital to future peace and prosperity”, said CEO Jane Madgwick,
before the plan was put on hold. “Its loss would permanently
undermine the climate resilience of the region.”

Paludiculture
Luckily, there is good news for those seeking to end
the constant battles for water between wetlands andagriculture. Researchers at Wetlands International, theGreifswald Mire Centre and elsewhere are developing andpromoting ways of farming within wetlands, particularly
peatlands, known as paludiculture.

Paludiculture in Bederkesa, Germany

In July 2022, we took German parliamentarians to see an EUfunded project near Malchin in Northeast Germany, where
farmers cultivate Typha, a flowering wetland plant also known
as cattail or bulrush, which can be sold to make construction
materials such as boards and insulation. Other potential highvalue paludiculture activities include harvesting peat moss, foruse in horticulture as an alternative to mining fossil peat, andherding water buffalo. The parliamentarians concluded thatsuch commercial wetland activities could be vital in meetingtargets for conserving and rewetting peatlands to be set by the
new EU Natural Restoration Law. Paludiculture may not feed
the world any time soon, but it offers good bankable reasonsfor protecting and restoring our wetlands.

HEA-JIN PARKCOMMUNICATION OFFICER
I am Hea-Jin Park, the Communication Officer at Wetlands International Japan. My primary role involves creating
content to raise awareness about Japan’s Ramsar sites and World Wetlands Day, as well as managing social media
platforms. Prior to joining Wetlands International in April 2021, I worked for seven years as a publishing editor
in South Korea. In 2018, I relocated to Japan and pursued studies in Ecological Democracy at the graduate schoolof Environment and Society. It was during this time that my interest in wetlands grew through involvement inlocal community activities and collaborations with civic groups across borders to restore the population of theendangered Black-faced Spoonbills, which breed in Korea and winter in Japan and Taiwan.
Wetlands International’s dedication to sustaining and restoring wetland ecosystems strongly resonates withme. I firmly believe that safeguarding these vital habitats is essential for biodiversity conservation and thewell-being of local communities. I am enthusiastic about being part of this important mission. Additionally, as

Climate change
Meanwhile, there are wider issues in the agricultural and foodsystems that urgently need to be addressed. Climate change
is affecting food and water security. If we want to transformfood and agricultural systems to become more resilient andreduce their environmental and climate footprints, we needto connect these efforts to the conservation, sustainable use
and restoration of wetlands. For this, a better integration of
the different policy agendas is necessary. In 2022, during UN
climate negotiations at COP27, we engaged in events aimed ataccelerating action on the food system, water and climate, andin doing this, also enabling global biodiversity recovery.

a bird enthusiast, I feel fortunate to have numerous opportunities to visit wetlands worldwide.
One of the highlights of 2022 was the YouTube Wetland Contents Development project. In collaboration with theRamsar Regional Center - East Asia, we partnered with various YouTube creators from diverse fields to showcase
Japan’s rich and diverse wetlands and their beautiful wildlife from their unique perspectives. The 12 video clips
generated a total of over 87,000 views, significantly raising awareness about the importance of wetlands.
Undoubtedly, effective communication and engagement with various stakeholders play a critical role in theconservation and restoration of wetlands at a significant scale. This involves forging strong partnerships withlocal communities, governments, NGOs, and private sector organisations. Throughout this process, it is crucial
to foster an understanding and respect for diversity, just as we value the importance of biodiversity.

Our work in Ethiopia’s Ziway-Shalla basin shows on a small
scale what is needed – and what can be achieved. The
good news is that solutions exist. What we need now is toscale up impact.

Underwater life, Japan

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RESTORINGWETLAND NATURE
By Fred Pearce

We knew it was a great project.
Now the United Nations has recognised it, too.
At the global biodiversity conference in Montreal in
December, the UN made our Building with Nature
initiative to restore mangroves and protect rapidly
eroding coastline in Indonesia one of its ten inaugural
World Restoration Flagships. Now we plan to scale up
this best practice to save coastlines and help millions
more people across Asia.

Mangrove restoration along the coastline of Demak, Indonesia

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“A stellar example
of smart andforward-looking
adaptation workin action”“The programme
offers a triple win:for nature,communities andeconomies.”

Inger Andersen, Director of
the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

Yus Rusila Noor,
Director of Wetlands International
Indonesia

Mangroves in Indonesia

Shrimp ponds

World Restoration Flagship

Building with Nature integrates Nature-Based Solutions withmore conventional water infrastructure. On the northerncoastline of Java, Indonesia’s most densely populatedisland, we have been restoring a coastline that has been
badly damaged by people removing a green barrier ofmangroves to create room for shrimp ponds. Without
this protection, the sea has been invading for several
decades, washing through the ponds into rice fields in theancient regency of Demak. Former coastal villages such as
Timbulsloko have become islands, connected to the shore
by narrow causeways several kilometres long that must be
constantly raised to keep them above water.

Marking the World Restoration Flagship award, the director of
the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, called
the project “a stellar example of smart and forward-looking
adaptation work in action”, and a beacon for the UN Decade on
Ecosystem Restoration, which got under way in 2021.
For the villagers of Demak, Building with Nature has turned
the tide against an encroaching ocean. They now own thebamboo structures, and will maintain them until they become
redundant as the mangroves grow and collect more silt
amid their roots. Meanwhile, the village networks created by
Wetlands International during the project have formed a new
permanent local representative body called Bintoro (Javanesefor “to manage the sea”).

Local communities planted new mangroves to hold back thewater, but they were washed away. So we worked with themto install permeable bamboo structures along the coast,
which create slack water between them and the shore, wheresilt accumulates, allowing mangroves to seed naturally andgrow once again.
We also brought in local partners to train more than 270
village shrimp farmers in how to incorporate mangroves
into redesigned ponds, while adopting organic methods ofaquaculture. The results have tripled pond yields. And withthe revived mangroves once again acting as nurseries, local
wild fish catches have improved too, benefiting both villagers
and bird populations.

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“The programme offers a triple win: for nature, communities
and economies,” says Yus Rusila Noor, Director of Wetlands
International in Indonesia. “It meets local needs, whileboosting benefits such as fisheries, carbon sequestration,
recreation and biodiversity.”
And it is set for expansion. “The project has created a formulathat can be used in other locations,” says our Programme
Head of Coasts and Deltas, Pieter van Eijk. “Already, theIndonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, a partnerin the Demak project, has replicated the structures along morethan 20 kilometres of vulnerable coastline in 13 districts. And
we are developing similar schemes with the Ministry to help
prevent flooding and erosion on the nearby islands of Lombok
and Sumbawa.”

Village shrimp farmer in Demak, Building with Nature“The project has createda formula that can beused in other locations.”
Pieter van Eijk,
Programme Head, Coasts and Deltasof Wetlands International

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Women doing oysterfarming in between the mangroves in the Saloum delta, Senegal

Building with Nature Asia

Over the past two decades,
our projects have restored
wetlands in 16 countries,
including rewetting 22,000
hectares of drained
peatlands and rehabilitating
26,000 hectares.

Next stop: the rest of Asia. We have created Building with
Nature Asia to partner India, China, the Philippines andMalaysia and others to address a range of coastal problems
previously only achieved by “hard” engineering. And we havejoined the coalition for mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions(NBS), a collaboration that puts NBS first among the options
for infrastructure. Within a decade such projects could beprotecting 10 million or more people, at a fraction of the costof sea walls.
Recognition
The value of restoring wetlands for maintaining biodiversity,
improving livelihoods and protecting against the impacts ofclimate change is increasingly recognised internationally. Of
the ten World Restoration Flagships announced by the UN, five
involved wetlands, from Gulf seagrasses and Indian rivers to
wet grasslands in Central Asia.
Growing value
This rising awareness makes our expertise in wetland
restoration of growing value. An internal analysis of our workover the past two decades, completed in 2022, identified 29
projects that have restored wetlands in 16 countries. They
ranged from small water channels supplying villages in Mali’s

Inner Niger Delta, to rewetting 22,000 hectares of drained
peatlands in Russia, and rehabilitating 26,000 hectares in andaround Lake Loktak in northeast India.
Many involved local communities as active partners,
something we see as central to success. And in almost allcases, those communities were the main beneficiaries.
Recently, our attention has focused on peatlands. They
hold roughly a third of all the planet’s soil carbon, and theircontinuing loss is reckoned responsible for around 4 percent
of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Stemming
and reversing this loss was highlighted as a critical task infighting climate change by a new Global Peatland Assessment,
published in 2022 by UNEP and the Global Peatlands Initiative,of which Wetlands International is a leading member.
We are working on it. In 2022, we pushed forward new projects
in several countries. With funding from Greenchoice, a Dutch
green-energy supplier, we are developing community-based
peatland restoration across 180,000 hectares of two very
different landscapes: around Lake Junin, high in the Amazon
watershed of Peru, and across the steppes of Mongolia.

Woman involved in oysterfarming Saloum delta, Senegal

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Collaboration on Peatland Restoration with Stella McCartney

In the Brazilian Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland,
we began collecting data for a five-year project with
Greenchoice to reduce wildfires that in recent years havespread from cattle ranches and consumed up to a third of thewetland, threatening its jaguars, giant otters, caymans andblue macaws.
Meanwhile in Europe, we have been lobbying for a tougher
EU Nature Restoration Law that can catalyse wetland recovery.
A draft of the law published by the European Commission inJune planned, among other things, to restore the free flow ofat least 25,000 kilometres of rivers by 2030, but had weaktargets for rewetting peatlands as a means to meeting EU
climate and biodiversity commitments.
We continue our work in the field to show how it can be
done. 2022 saw new funding from the US philanthropic
Grantham Foundation to kick off a second phase of our workwith Rewilding Europe, developing commercially-based
peatland restoration in Poland’s Oder delta and Norrbottencounty in northern Sweden. And we launched a collaboration
with French luxury goods company LVMH to restore 200
hectares of blanket peat bog in northwest Scotland,
funded by donations from purchasers of skincare products
developed by Stella McCartney.
It’s the new wet look.

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JULIO FERNANDESANDRÉS FRAIZPROGRAMME OFFICERTECHNICAL OFFICER

I am Julio Fernandes, a Brazilian dedicated to my work at Wetlands International for the past five years.

My name is Andrés Fraiz, and I am a biologist deeply passionate about coastal ecosystems and theirGrowing up in the Brazilian countryside, I have always had a deep appreciation for the intricate relationshipconservation. Working at Wetlands International allows me to pursue my true calling and address the issues

between people and nature. This passion led me to pursue a BSc in Geography and currently, I am a candidatethat ignite my enthusiasm. The conservation of nature and the realisation that we must learn to coexist withfor an MSc in territory management and planning.

it while harnessing the benefits of ecosystems and their services are crucial, especially in the face of climatechange. Contributing to this cause brings me immense gratification.

The intersection of people and nature finds its true essence in wetlands, and working for a global network
dedicated to conserving and restoring these precious ecosystems for the benefit of both people and nature

My specialisation lies in environmental management, but my greatest expertise revolves around aquatic andbrings me immense joy and fulfillment.

marine ecology as well as the restoration of coastal ecosystems. Over the years, I have witnessed firsthand thesignificance of these ecosystems and the urgent need to protect and restore them.

Cooperation is the cornerstone of my work. I find myself in spaces where I can connect and foster collaboration
among partners. The challenge of bringing people together, united by a common goal, is what truly inspires me.

Leadership and organizing work teams to address various challenges concerning wetlands have become acentral part of my role. Resolving these issues is a constant source of motivation, driving me to connect with

After two challenging years of remote work, last year, we were finally able to reconnect with partners and people

partners and build bridges among stakeholders. By bringing people together and fostering collaborationin person for project implementations in the region. Returning to the field reignites our ambition and reinforces

toward a common goal, I find great fulfillment.

the mission we have ahead of us in safeguarding wetlands for the well-being of both people and nature.
Water is the essence of life, yet we often fail to appreciate its value until we face its scarcity. Wetlands, being
Engaging people with wetlands is a priority for me! Facilitating dialogues across different scales, fromfragile ecosystems, cannot withstand the relentless onslaught of pollutants and debris. Climate change further

grassroots community-based organisations (CBOs) to multilateral agreements and multinational companies,emphasises the urgency of maintaining the well-being of wetlands, as they provide essential ecosystemis crucial. Mobilizing people and sharing knowledge about the importance of wetlands allows individuals toservices that protect us and provide vital resources.

recognise the vital role these ecosystems play in their lives.
As a devoted conservationist and a lover of fish, I consider myself fortunate to have abundant opportunities
to visit wetlands across the globe. These journeys allow me to witness the wonders of these ecosystems anddeepen my appreciation for their significance.

Aerial view of the Parana Delta, Argentina

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MANGROVE
BREAKTHROUGH
By Fred Pearce

Amid the rise in international attention given to wetlands
during 2022, no ecosystems have featured more
prominently than mangroves – as storers of carbon,
nurturers of marine wildlife and protectors of coastlines
from storms and rising tides.
A major new boost for this agenda came during theyear with the announcement of the Mangrove
Breakthrough at the UN Climate Change Convention
COP27 in November in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt,
aimed at mobilising billions of dollars for mangrove
conservation and restoration.

Mangrove tree in clear tropical waters in Exuma, Bahamas

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Ecosystems of Hope

A game-changer
for mangrove
conservation
and restoration
Old mangroves in the Saloum delta, Senegal

In 2022, the GMA published the second edition ofits groundbreaking The State of the World’s Mangroves report

Wetlands International has been central to the riseof mangroves, through our collaborations with otherenvironmental NGOs under the umbrella of the Global
Mangrove Alliance (GMA), which we co-founded in 2018 with
Conservation International, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy andWWF, and which now has more than 40 member organisations
and a growing number of national chapters. In 2022, the GMA
published the second edition of its groundbreaking The Stateof the World’s Mangroves report. Compiled by researchers
from Aberystwyth University, with The Nature Conservancy andWetlands International, it identifies 147,000 square kilometresof mangroves, pinpointing gains and losses in the past quartercentury and identifying more than 8,000 square kilometresof recently lost mangroves that the researchers identify as
potentially restorable.

by 2030 to halt any further mangrove loss, to restore half ofrecent mangrove losses, and to double the area of mangroves
within protected areas.

Game-changer

Adapting to climate change

The report is proving a game-changer for mangrove
conservation and restoration. The first edition, publishedin 2021, using data from the Global Mangrove Watch, an
online platform of remote sensing information, underpins the
Mangrove Breakthrough, announced by the UN High-Level
Climate Champions, with the GMA and others, at COP27.
The Breakthrough will “unlock public, private andphilanthropic finance at scale,” says Climate Champion and
UN Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda, Mahmoud
Mohieldin. It aims to catalyze the investment of USD 4 billion

Besides capturing carbon to mitigate climate change, theBreakthrough will help tropical countries confronted byrising sea levels and more intense storms to adapt to climatechange -- what Mohieldin calls the “race for resilience”. The
GMA says it should be able to reduce flood risks for 15 million
or more people in coastal communities, while boosting theirincomes by providing extra nursery habitat for an estimated 37
commercial marine species.

Capturing carbon
The GMA estimated during 2022 that achieving these targets
should capture and secure more than 40 million tonnes ofcarbon dioxide in the biomass of mangroves and a further 190
million tonnes in the soils and silt that their roots hold firm.
“The Breakthrough could not be more timely,” said Wetlands
International’s CEO Jane Madgwick. “Mangroves are now widely
valued, the potential for conservation and restoration is clear, andthe knowledge base is there to drive successful implementation.
The opportunity to create momentum for mangrove action atscale and unlock the required finance is now.”Presentation of mangrove breakthrough at UN Climate Change Conference COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

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‘To plant or not to plant’

ANTENEH WORKUPROGRAMME OFFICER-CRV
I am Anteneh Worku, an experienced professional with an MSc in Integrated Watershed Management
and a BSc in Forestry. I have worked with governmental, national, and international organisations in theconservation field. At Wetlands International Ethiopia, I lead restoration and livelihood support projects in
the Central Rift Valley landscape.

Bankable returns
Raising billions of dollars will also require delivering bankable
returns for investors, in terms of carbon capture or otherenvironmental benefits, through developing a portfolio of“investable mangrove projects”, says Wetlands International’s
Programme Head for Coasts and Deltas, Pieter van Eijk. Those
projects must employ good science, while safeguarding
the rights of the communities that host them. The aim is to
showcase the first Breakthrough portfolio at the next UN
climate conference in Dubai at the end of 2023.
The actions implemented under these projects will take many
forms. But based on our experience, Wetlands International
is keen to steer the global community away from its focus
on single-sided large-scale planting of mangroves, which
has a high failure rate. Instead, we find better outcomes fromstimulating natural mangrove regeneration via the principlesof “ecological mangrove restoration”.
Our “To Plant or Not to Plant” campaign is demonstrating bestpractice, while influencing and inspiring mangrove initiatives
worldwide. In 2022, we submitted proposals for scaling up
mangrove restoration on the Mahakam and Kayan Sembakung
deltas in Indonesian Borneo; provided technical advice on a

project to offset losses of mangroves during the constructionof the New Manila Airport in the Philippines; convened
stakeholders in Tanzania’s Rufiji delta to protect East Africa’s
largest area of mangroves; and pushed ahead with our own
groundbreaking restoration work in and around the Cacheu
National Park in Guinea-Bissau, a candidate to become a
UNESCO biosphere reserve.

I’ve cherished wetlands since my college days studying wetland ecology. Working at Wetlands International
Ethiopia is a dream come true, allowing me to pursue my passion and contribute to wetland preservation.
With a great team and inspiring leaders, I have the opportunity to engage communities and partners, raisingawareness about the significance of wetlands.
One of my key projects, Source to Sea, focuses on restoration and climate-resilient livelihoods. This involves
implementing restoration measures, securing water resources at the catchment level, promoting incomegenerating activities, and introducing climate-smart agricultural practices. Collaborating with community-

The new initiatives will build on existing agreements,
especially the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance. The 2022 Conference of the Parties to this50-year-old treaty advanced its mangrove agenda byapproving the creation of a new International Mangrove Centre
in southern China at Shenzhen, home of the Futian mangrove
reserve. China is one of only a handful of countries to increase
its mangrove cover in the past two decades.

based organisations, NGOs, religious leaders, and government entities, we have achieved remarkable

The Ramsar resolution establishing the centre “encourages
close communication and cooperation with other organisations
and ongoing mangrove initiatives”, indicating that it should
become an international focus, and draw on the expertise of
the GMA in its work.

My work has inspired me, enhancing my leadership skills and confidence in engaging stakeholders, partners,

outcomes, such as reduced runoff, rehabilitation of degraded watersheds and wetlands, increased bird
populations, sustainable fuelwood off-take, and the establishment of climate-smart villages.
To ensure tangible restoration success, I emphasise public awareness, advocacy, integrating restoration efforts withlivelihood enhancement, creating wetland buffer zones, implementing water use permits, mitigating overgrazing
and unsustainable agriculture, and promoting integrated wetland management plans. A well-coordinated approachthat harmonises agriculture and grazing management with wetland conservation is essential.

and the community. I deeply appreciate the recognition and support received from Wetlands International andthe local community. Together, we strive to make a lasting positive impact on wetland ecosystems.

Aerial shot of fishermen from Matondoni Village in Lamu, Kenya

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6
4
5

20

17

14
7

9
8

1

18

10
11

15

12

19

13

Wetlands
International
Offices16

2
1 Latin America& Caribbean Panama
2 Brazil

3

3 Latin American& Caribbean Argentina
4 Global office
5 Europe
6 Russia
7 West Africa Coastal
8 Guinea-Bissau
9 Sahel
10 Ethiopia
11 Uganda
12 Eastern Africa
13 Tanzania

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14 South Asia
15 Malaysia
16 Brunei
17 China
18 Philippines
19 Indonesia
20 Japan

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FUNCTIONING OF
THE ORGANISATION
Fortunately, the risks of Covid eased in the first months of the year allowing for amore normal operation than we have had for the previous two years.
Although the war in Ukraine and the resulting hike in energy and other pricesrose as external risks, the effects were only felt by the organisation to a limited
degree, except for our office in Russia where our operations came to an effective
standstill. In other parts of the network, we faced security issues due to local
unrest, for example in the Sahel region. However, we are accustomed to addressingthese kinds of challenges and this caused only minor disruptions. Overall, theenvironment where we work has improved in comparison with a year before.

Strategic Intent

Global OfficeThis was the second year of implementing the Wetlands
International’s Strategic Intent (2020-2030) since its approvalby the organisation’s governance in December 2020. Our
teams were focused on advocacy and implementing big
ideas, while also developing new program concepts andgenerating new resources to meet the challenges of ourstrategic ambitions.

The Global Office, based in the Netherlands, facilitates work
across the network and provides leadership and support in
representation, programme leadership, communication andfundraising. The office is responsible for facilitating the daily
work of the network and ensuring it is aligned with decisions
taken by the Network Management Team and Global Board. A
social report for the Global Office in 2022 is presented at theend of this chapter.

Achievements
In the past year, positive progress was made across all threeworkstreams: Deltas and Coasts, Peatlands, and Rivers andLakes. Results contributing to the goals set out in the Strategic
Intent have been delivered collaboratively by our network
teams through programmes and projects, in line with the local
context in which they operate. A summary of achievements
is provided in our Achievements chapter. A list of the main
projects carried out in 2022 is provided in Annex 3.1.

Communications and advocacy

Wetlands International network

2022 presented an ideal opportunity for Wetlands
International to raise its profile, and to put wetlands at thecentre of global action on climate and biodiversity. With
Ramsar COP14, UNFCCC COP27 and CBD COP15 happening
in quick succession, we brought policy coherence aroundglobal wetland targets and evidence that healthy wetlands
are a key solution to the dual crises of climate change andbiodiversity loss.

Wetlands International is an independent, global network ofoffices with shared values, brand and purpose that implementa joint strategy to safeguard and restore wetlands in more than
100 countries worldwide. Our offices and locations are shown
before this chapter. There were no changes to the number ofour presences in 2022.

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Building our advocacy and communications is a key partof scaling up our impact at landscape, national and global
levels. In 2022 we strengthened our team capacity, withthe recruitment of a new Senior Advocacy Officer, and two
Communications Managers, focusing on Brand & Content
and Digital Engagement. This has allowed us to make abigger impact.

PROJECT CYCLE
MANAGEMENTTRAJECTORY AND
TRAININGSAt Wetlands International we started reviewing
and refreshing our internal processes. The project
management cycle and systems needed to strengthen
cooperation, efficiency, standards and good practices
across our offices. We completed a survey involving morethan 70 project managers across our offices and worked
very closely with our office teams and MDF Training& Consultancy to develop our Project Management
Guidelines and a tailor-made training on results-based
project management. A pilot training with participantsfrom our Kenya, Ethiopia, Europe and Global Offices took
place in April 2023, and at least two more trainings areplanned for 2023.

Project Cycle Management training with global staff at
Global Office in Ede, The Netherlands

These trainings are already helping us to improve a
common approach and understanding to Project Cycle
Management that will strengthen cooperation andefficiency among network teams working on joint andcomplex projects.

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ANNUAL MEETING
The Annual Meeting, held from 31 October to 4 of November 2022 in Tour du Valat, France, was thefirst opportunity for senior leaders and Heads of Offices to meet face-to-face since the last in-person
Annual Meeting in Brazil three years ago, before the Covid pandemic. Tour du Valat hosting the Annual
Meeting was symbolic due to its connection with the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Bureau(predecessor of Wetlands International) and its role in promoting the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
Wetlands International has grown significantly in the last three years and the Annual Meeting was anopportunity to sharpen our priorities and deep dive into our upscaling ambitions to further accelerate
our impact. We looked into how best to deliver our strategic goals and mechanisms for scaling up, suchas sharing science and knowledge, stimulating public and private funding, working with value chains,building capacity, and influencing policy. On the last day of the Annual Meeting, the CEO and Heads ofOffices met as the Global Board to confirm the key decisions and actions of the meeting. It set the basis
for resetting our Business Planning process, defined a pathway to work on our scaling strategy, helped
us understand how far along the way we are toward the achievement of the nine goals within our
strategic intent and set minimum standards for our organisational development and financial exchange
of information and reporting.

Delegation of Wetlands International at UN Biodiversity Conference COP15 in Montreal, Canada

We sent a delegation to Montreal to influence the UN
Biodiversity negotiations at CBD COP15. The inclusion ofinland waters and coastal ecosystems in the Kunming-Montreal
Global Biodiversity Framework targets on restoration andconservation represents a big win for wetlands, and now
provides a global mandate for urgent action for wetlands inevery country.

times in 2022 and made a field visit to learn about peatland
restoration in Scotland. A report of governance activities
is presented in the Supervisory Council chapter. In cases
where Wetlands International offices have an independent
legal status, they are governed by their own boards and theorganisation’s CEO is an ex-officio member.

Network management
Partnerships and Philanthropy
In 2022 we created a new network team to drive our workon partnerships, philanthropy and general fundraising. The
team conducted a comprehensive audit of our fundraisingneeds which helped us identify areas of strength, weakness
and opportunities for growth which will guide our priorities
in the coming period. As one of the main conclusions, we
decided to improve our coordination as a network to engage
effectively with the private sector. We developed a corporate
engagement strategy to align with our future ambitions andmarket readiness.

GovernanceWetlands International is a non-profit organisation withcharitable status in the Netherlands and in countries where
it operates. The organisation has two complementary forms
of international governance: an Association of Members(governments and NGOs), and a foundation overseen by aSupervisory Council (SC) whose members also constitute theBoard of the Association (BoA). The SC and BoA met three

The Global Board, consisting of the Wetlands International CEO
and Heads of each office, is responsible for strategic decisions
on positioning, priorities and institutional issues. The Global
Board delegates operational decision-making to the Network
Management Team which has members drawn from among
Heads of office and global functions. In 2022, the Network
Management Team met every two months and was key indecision-making in network-wide policy and communications
issues (such as positioning on Voluntary Carbon Markets,
engagement strategies for Ramsar, UNFCCC and CBD), andsupervised investments made in organisational development,such as capacity building in Project Cycle Management
and the Corporate Engagement Strategy. The Global Board
met in November in the Camargue, France as part of theorganisation’s Annual Meeting, where everyone there signed
the Heads of Office Charter.

Accountability
Transparency and accountability towards our stakeholders arepart of our core values, including actively seeking feedback

Workshop at the Annual meeting in Tour du Valat, France

64

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65

Network
Organisation
Chart

GOVERNANCE

Wetlands International Office in Fatick, Senegalon our performance. A dedicated webpage provides ourannual reports and accounts, and information about key
global policies including the Conservation and Human Rights
Framework, INGO Accountability Framework, Code of Conduct,
Corporate Engagement, Anti-corruption, Ethical, Gender, andPartnership policies. In 2022 Wetlands International made nochanges to these policies.

Anti-corruption and whistle blowing
All staff are introduced to the anti-corruption policy in theirinduction and are encouraged to be vigilant and discuss
any suspicious activities with their line manager or Head of
office. External stakeholders can also approach Wetlands
International with any grievances or complaints related topossible cases of fraud, discrimination or mismanagement.
The complaints procedure is available for use of anyone on
the Wetlands International website. In 2022 we received acomplaint from a staff member in the Eastern Africa region
which was dealt with by the responsible Director supported by
the Director of Resources from the Global Office. The lessons
from this case are being used to improve our practices.

Corporate Social Responsibility
Wetlands International strives in its daily operations to
reduce negative impact on the environment and act in asustainable and socially responsible way. Since travel is themost important part of our footprint, we encourage Global
Office staff to use public transport and work part-time fromhome. Also, all company flights are compensated fully for
their CO2 emissions. In 2022 we calculated our CO2 footprint
from flights as 153 Tonnes which corresponds to about 4 T
CO2 per FTE staff. The graph below illustrates that, although
our impact from flying increased in 2022, it is still about 40%
of our previous average in the pre-COVID period. Similarly,
commuting to work and domestic travel have increased
compared with the past two years, but are still below our preCOVID averages.

National /Sub-Regional
BoardsSupervisory
Council &Board of
Association

Membersof theAssociation

Network CEO(chairs GB, NMT, GMT)

NETWORKEXECUTIVE
MANAGEMENT

GlobalManagement
Team

Global Board(of Heads of Office)(GMT)

Network
Management
Team

CO2 IN TONNES (FLIGHTS)
500

PROGRAMMEDEVELOPMENT &IMPLEMENTATION

400
300

Network
Offices

Programme
Leadership
Team

Global Office(services Network& Offices)

200
100
0
2018

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2019

2020

2021

2022

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67

Risk
Management
Associated experts,
members andvolunteers

Risk Management

Associated experts, members and volunteers

A risk register for the network, overseen by the Network
Management Team, is updated regularly and discussed atleast once a year with the Wetlands International Supervisory
Council. Overall, we see that risks have edged-up in the past
year, despite that fact that Covid risks (and related disruptions)have dropped to low levels. We see increases in risk due tochallenges in obtaining sufficient quality and timeliness inproject audits and due to the tight labour market that has
made it challenging to fill vacancies in the past 12 months.
Despite this we consider the organisation to be in a good
position to deal with these risks, due to its stronger financial
position, which means that we can take mitigation measuresmore quickly when required.

The strength of Wetlands International is much more than its
staff and offices. Through working with influential partners,
specialist groups, experts and members, we accelerate ourmomentum and strategic results.
Members and the Supervisory Council provide active
governance and, together with Counsellors of Honour, bringhigh-level expertise, guidance and connections. Specialist
groups, associate experts and partners provide expertise,evidence and advice that underpins our approach on science,
policy and practice.
Partner organisations with whom we work regularly to
implement programmes and projects are listed in Annex 3.7.
We are especially proud of our long-standing engagementwith volunteer and citizen science groups, such as those who
participate in the International Waterbird Census each year.

From theperspective of

The top 5 risks in December 2022 are listed in the table below:

1

RISK

AREA
OF RISKPOTENTIAL IMPACTON ORGANISATIONMITIGATIONMEASURES

Political instability andconflict affects operations(Ukraine/Russia, Sahel region)

Governance

Programme operations
and funding is greatly
reducedStrengthen cooperation withlocal communities. Incorporate
flexibility in project design

The COmON Foundation has awarded Wetlands
International the status of key grantee and provides
structural and project-related support to the organisation.
At present the Foundation supports our action tosafeguard and restore mangroves in Africa and Asia,and to further develop the 4 Returns methodology forlandscape restoration in partnership with Commonland,and supports a step change in the organisation’s
effectiveness, capacity and systems.

Members of the Association
Government and NGO members of the global association
provide long-term support and strategic guidance to theorganisation. In November 2022, we held a well-attended
event for members on the margins of the Ramsar Convention
COP14 meeting which highlighted the urgency and opportunity
to collaborate over scaling up action for biodiverse, healthy
wetlands and the involvement of members in Wetlands
International and their willingness to further collaborate.

Strategic partnerships

2

Economic recession due tocost of living crisis in multiple
regions leads to less funds
available and more competition

Financial

Fewer opportunites todevelop and implement
programesm with effects
on staffing and offices

Regular monitoring by Network
MT, sharpen propositions, andmore attention to relationshipmanagement

3

Insufficient quallity and latesubmission of audits fromoffices (local partners financereports are insufficient)

Financial

Delays in reports,
cashflow and ultimately
an impact on reputation

Pre-Investing in network support
functions (senior finance staff),
amd training in project financemanagement

45

Political instability Change
in policies or priorities
of major donors(closure of MAVA)

Tight labour market slows
recruitment and leads togaps in staffing and stressfor current staff

Financial

Operational

Key funding sources are
no longer available E.g.
Mediterranean, West
AfricaInability to implement
current programmes
correctly or to start newones and over-work
symptoms among staff

Develop and maintain open
relationships with other donors

Extra suport to recruitments
processes, including interim staff
and recruitment agencies“If ever a breakthrough was a real
breakthrough, it is the Mangrove
Breakthrough! Thanks to the tireless work of
Wetlands International in the past 25 years,
finally the world has seen the importance ofmangroves. They protect coastal areas with
its inhabitants from the sea, they absorb
massive Carbon, they provide income tolocal communities, they provide shelter andbreeding space for fish and mammals. In
other words, they play a crucial role in the
Circle of Life.

Wetlands International works in partnerships in nearly all
the activities we undertake. Our partnership policy outlines
principles that guide why and how long-term strategic
relationships are developed and managed. In 2022 we madeimportant steps forward in strategic partnerships across ourprogramme, including in:•
Coasts and Deltas: Global Mangrove Alliance, The Nature
Conservancy, WWF, Permian Global and Boskalis•
Peatlands: Global Peatlands Initiative, Greifswald Mire
Centre, Rewilding Europe and Greenchoice•
Rivers and Lakes: CARE, International Alert, IWMI and GIZ•
Conventions and Waterbird Agreements: Ramsar
Convention, IUCN, AEWA, EAAFP and CMS

There is no other organisation to be foundin the whole world with so much global
knowledge about mangroves than Wetlands
International. At COmON Foundation weare extremely proud to be associated with
Wetlands International.
We provide core-funding to the organisation
annually and we finance several global
mangrove projects, one of them being the
To Plant Or not To Plant initiative in Guinee
Bissau, Tanzania, Indonesia and Malaysia.
I would urge other donors, big or small,to jump on the riding train and join us in
supporting this spectacular organisation
filled with motivated, skilled people who all
have their hearts in the right place!”

1135European
Association
Members

10,000+Volunteer
CitizenScientists(global)
Association
Members

8

263

Supervisory
CouncilPartners

8

Counsellorsof Honour

30

16

Associate
Experts

Specialist
Groups68

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69

Global
OfficeStaff

SPOTLIGHT:
GLOBAL OFFICE SOCIALREPORT 2022
This section provides insight into our global office staffing
and human resource (HR) practices in 2022.

56%

70

Updated HR Plan

Employment contracts

In 2022 we conducted an independent assessment leading
to reflection, learning and understanding on motivations
for retention. As a follow-up we prepared an updated HR
plan for the Global Office to stimulate support for personal
development and training, foster teamwork and ensure apleasant working environment for all staff. As part of this, we
set up an Employee Participation Group to facilitate two-way
communications, enable ideas and innovations to be pickedup and to act as an additional mechanism to ensure that staff
views are taken on board by the Management Team in key
decision making.

The average number of contracted working was 34,3 hours
during the year (fulltime is 36 hours). During 2022 we
employed 10 new staff members while 5 staff members left.
We are in full transition to meet the needs of the Strategy andthe emerging project portfolio. Of the five who left: 1 resigned
for personal reasons, 3 were not a good match and 1 left on asabbatical.

Diversity

Integrity

In December 2022, we had a total Global Office staff of 41
people. Our staff has a diverse cultural and professional
background which matches our role as an international NGO.
During the year key staff ratios remained generally stablewith 13 different nationalities, an average age of 47 years,
and a balanced male/female ratio of 56/44. In 2022, mostof our staff were educated to university level and included 8
members with highest education being PhD.

Personal safety and integrity are a priority for Wetlands
International. We have policies and practices about
the behaviour staff can expect from each other and we
endeavour to create a safe space to share concerns orcomplaints as they occur. For the Global Office no official
complaints were received in 2022 from staff. We continue
to give attention to awareness and training on behaviour,transparency and integrity.

Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

44%

13 NATIONALITIESAVERAGE AGE: 47

STAFF NUMBERS

CONTRACT TYPE

HealthOur total percentage of sick leave went up to 2.7%, in mostcases still related to Covid.

total: 41
fte: 34,8
part-time: 9full-time: 32

permanent: 31
fixed time: 10
project: 0

HEALTHHIGHEST LEVELEDUCATION
PhD: 8master: 21
bachelor: 7other: 2

short-term
sick leave 2.7%

INTEGRITY
PROCEDURES
internal: 0
external: 071

PAUL MBATIAPARTNERSHIP MANAGER
I am Paul Mbatia, and I bring extensive expertise as a business developer, facilitator, strategist, and program
designer to my role at Wetlands International. Within the organisation, my primary focus is providing
guidance to our network and spearheading efforts to build long term sustainable partnerships and funding.
Growing up in Kenya, I witnessed firsthand the destruction of forests and wetlands, which resulted in severe
consequences for our climate, biodiversity, and people’s livelihoods. This experience ignited my passion
for addressing climate change and protecting our environment. To me, human-induced climate change is aviolation of fundamental human rights, including the right to life, water and sanitation, food, health, housing,self-determination, culture, and development. It is our collective responsibility to take action, implement
remedies, and support communities to adapt to ensure a dignified life. This is why working for Wetlands
International is so fulfilling for me.
I have a background in teaching economics and geography, and a master’s degree in international development
studies, and a deep knowledge of international development policies and engagement with philanthropic
organisations. My expertise lies in planning, reporting, and resource mobilisation, with a deep understandingof donor engagement.
In my role, I support the Wetlands International network by leading and developing resource mobilisation
strategies and their implementation. This includes the timely preparation and completion of donor reports,
proposals, presentations, and briefing papers. My role expands to supporting the network team’s development
skills by enhancing our result-based report in analytical writing, and donor relationship development to ensurehigh-quality proposals and donor reports critical for our network’s partnership management
To safeguard wetlands for the benefit of both people and nature, I believe we require strong politicalcommitment from nations to improve the condition of wetlands and enhance community resilience in the faceof climate change. This commitment must be accompanied by policy development at local basin and national
levels through relevant platforms and I ensure that local wetland communities have access to knowledge,
financing, tools, and early-warning systems enabling them to make optimal choices for sustainable livelihoodsin harmony with wetland conservation.

Sunset at Danube Delta

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SUMMARY OF FINANCE
AND RESOURCING
This section provides a summary of Wetlands International’s financeand resourcing in 2022. A detailed version can be found insections 1 and 2 (annual accounts) and section 3 of the Annex.

MILLION EUROTOTAL INCOME NETWORK AND GLOBAL OFFICE (FOUNDATION)
20
15
10
5

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022 BUDGET
2023

PROJECT INCOME GLOBAL OFFICEPROJECT INCOME NETWORK

Wetlands International focuses its work where wetlands
matter most to people and nature. Our programmes andinitiatives are developed to meet our goals set out in ourStrategic Intent 2020-2030 and organised into three streams:
Coasts and Deltas, Rivers and Lakes, and Peatlands (seesection 3.1 of the Annex for a complete list of our projects).
Our programmes are increasingly large-scale and long-term,
involving transboundary and international work that involves
several offices. The network’s offices (global and sub-regional,
national) work together on resource development and anincreasing amount of funding is raised by offices other than
the global office.

GLOBAL NETWORKBY STREAM

Resourcing the global organisation
The main sources of income of Wetlands International for 2022
came from projects as well as important annual contributions
from our members. The total network project income is basedon data obtained from all offices according to their national
finance practices. The total network project income of 2022
amounted to €18 million (see Annex section 3.1).

Our sources of income
and expenditures across the sectors
The main source of income in 2022 was from foundations,trusts and other non-profits at 51% (last year 40%).
This increase came from a shift from government grants,
representing a lower part of the total income of 42%
this year (last year 51%). In addition, 5% (last year 6%)
came from corporate funding (through our Collaboration

GLOBAL NETWORKINCOME BY DONOR

50%
51%

42%

50% COAST & DELTA

5% CORPORATE

42% RIVERS & LAKES

42% GOVERNMENT NSTITUTION

8% PEATLANDS

51% TRUST, FOUNDATIONS & NON-PROFIT

Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

Our sources of income
and expenditures across the three streams
Across our three streams, Coasts and Deltas accounted for thelargest portion of our income at 50% (last year 50%), Rivers
and Lakes increased to 42% because of the starting of twolarger programs (last year 38%) and Peatlands contributed
8% (last year 12%) of total network income; this decline ismainly due to one large programme ending.

In 2022, network offices received and managed 29% of
total income directly from our donors. This is slightly lower
than in 2021 (35%), mainly due to the taking of larger
programs with conditional funding through the Global office.
Projects managed through the global office are mostly
implemented by our network offices or by affiliated scientificinstitutions, partners and experts using sub-contracts.

2% MEMBERSHIP

74

A full list of network projects can be found in section 3.1of the Annex. This list provides an overview of projects
implemented in 2022 per office and includes the stream, theamount funded, the donor and the donor type.

Resource development
and implementation by network offices

8%

42%

Agreements). Membership contributions remained at 2%of the total income but are important strategically, as they
enable action on waterbird monitoring and support strategic
investments.

Considerations looking ahead
We received significant one-off grants in 2022 fromindividuals via philanthropic fundraising platforms. In 2023,
we have planned to increase this part of our annual incomeby €800k in new flexible funding donations built from a
mix of private sources. Our aim is that by the end of 2025,
organisational development, communications and advocacy
costs will be financed 100% from flexible funds. We aim

for 30% flexible funding of the total annual income. Thistarget assumes that we invest in the operational fundraisingfoundations required, and that partnership development
capacity at Global Office level is focused primarily on
new business acquisition, as well as building capacity for
fundraising in our offices. It also requires we shift from aculture of fundraising to one of philanthropy.
Our strategy to achieve this target will involve establishingsystems to build strong relationships and support donors’
connection to our work by:•
Investing in developing a coherent organisational level
case for support and underlying donor engagement
assets. This would help us promote our organisation asa whole and therefore have better control on our donor
engagement rather than our current practices of selling
projects.
•
Developing comprehensive organisational level
engagement strategies for our four main fundraisingmarkets - corporate engagement, private foundations
and high net worth individuals; Government Membershipand public donors. This would allow us to build our
network level resource mobilisation capacity that is lessabout spotting an opportunity and writing proposal tothat which is derived from our own strategy and that
support us as an international network.
•
Investing in Customer Relationship Management toimprove our donor relationship management, particularly
in improving the current donor lifetime value.
We continue to improve the financial resilience of the
Wetlands International network, including strengthening
our financial reserves to enable us to address unforeseen
external events and to invest in the organisation.

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75

THANK YOU
The progress made towards our 2030 targets as set out in the Strategic Intent
2020-2030 and reported on in this Annual Review, is made possible thanks to the
support of our donors, members and partners. A huge thanks to them all.

Wetlands International has the ambitious goal to safeguard
and restore millions of hectares of wetlands over 2020-2030,
achieving multiple benefits for people, climate, and nature.
Our theory of change encapsulates the three main phasesof our work: to inspire, mobilise, and upscale. These are thekey ingredients of our organisational strategy for the period
2020-2030.
At Wetlands International, we understand that only byworking with others can we safeguard and restore the world’s
wetlands. That is why we joined forces with a growing
portfolio of partners to increase our reach, accelerate ourwork and scale up our impact.

We would especially like to thank our major donors in 2022:••

The Dutch Postcode Lottery, for their three-year grant(2021-2023), enabling Wetlands International to step up
our work with partners to stimulate and enable wholelandscape recovery, including the regeneration of vital
wetlands.

•

The Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency (Sida), for funding “Wetlands 4 Resilience”, aten-year global wetland ambition aiming to achieve theglobal influence of countries, institutions and sectors,
resulting in shifts in approach, policies and investments
towards the regeneration of wetland landscapes.
Separately, Sida also enables the restoration of highvalue wetlands in the Rift valley and along the East
African Mangrove Coast.

In 2022, we worked intensively with existing and new
partners to drive wetland solutions across regions andsectors, from knowledge institutions to the private sector.
Our members played an important part in shaping ourStrategic Intent 2020-2030 and their annual membershipcontributions help us to drive implementation. Our members,both governments and NGOs, also provide additional financial
support and collaborate in programmes and on policy
advocacy. A big thank you to them for their continued support
and collaboration.
The International Waterbird Census, one of the longest
running and largest citizen science programme in the world,brings together counts of millions of waterbirds thanks to themany hours of fieldwork by tens of thousands of volunteers.
We are grateful to them all.

76

Wetlands International Annual Review 2022

The COmON Foundation, for supporting Wetlands
International in its mission to achieve impact for
wetlands and people worldwide, including safeguarding
and restoring mangroves and coastal landscapes in Africa
and Asia; bringing knowledge on wetlands and water
issues into the 4 Returns methodology for landscaperestoration in partnership with Commonland; supportinga step change in our organisation’s effectiveness; andmaking Wetlands International a key grantee.

•

DOB Ecology, for supporting major, long-term
programmes to conserve and restore mangroves in Africa,
and to conserve the river and wetland system of the
Paraná-Paraguay and the High Andean wetlands in SouthAmerica.

Identifying different mangrove species through their propagules during CBEMR Training in Lamu, Kenya•

The International Climate Initiative (IKI) of theGerman Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature
Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), for its support to
the Building with Nature Indonesia programme and theAccelerating Adaptation through Building with Nature in
Asia upscaling initiative.

•

All the donors who fund the Global Mangrove Alliance,and particularly the Oak Foundation, DoB Ecology,
COmON Foundation and the Dutch Postcode Lottery
for their support toward the Global Mangrove Watch
platform and its integration into (inter)national processes
to support the broader mangrove community.

•

The German Agency for Development & International
Cooperation (GIZ), for enabling our work on deltas andcoasts.

•The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), the Swiss
Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) andothers for funding our work in the Sahel, the Horn ofAfrica and elsewhere on the African continent.

•

Arcadia, for enabling our work to help conserve andrestore intertidal wetlands along the Yellow Sea coastin China, a critically important part of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway for migratory waterbirds.

•

Donors who fund our work through the effective giving
platform Effektiv-Spenden.

•

The many ministries of environment and development
agencies, state and local governments, and all
government and NGO members who enable our work.

•

A big thank you also to all the other donors listed in
Annex 3.10.

••

The Grantham Foundation, for supporting our workwith Rewilding Europe on the development of carbon
landscape propositions for peatland restoration andattracting further funding for upscaling.
Greenchoice, for supporting Wetlands International inrestoring 2,500 ha of mangroves in Guinea-Bissau.

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77

Photo credits
Cover AdobeStock, Alex Traveler
Highway through the mangrove forest passing
through the village, Siargao island, Philippines
2-3
AdobeStock, Abdul Momin
6
portrait Wetlands International, Joeri Borst
7
Wetlands International, Jane Madgwick
9
Wetlands International
10
Wetlands International, Niharika Iyengar
11
Food Planet Prize, Joy Asico
12
Wetlands International
18-19 background Flickr, NASA Johnson
Coastal plains and swamps of the Atlantic coast
nation of Guinea-Bissau
20-21 background Adobe stock, Kalyakan
Aerial view mangrove jungles in Thailand,
22-23 background Adobe stock, Shaith
Aerial view of brown swamps and blue river
24
Shutterstock, Lucas Leuzinger
26
Wetlands International, Heajin Park
27
Istockphoto, Uwe Bergwitz
28
Wetlands International, Danica Uy
29
Wetlands International, Michael Nelemans
30
Wetlands International, Niharika Iyengar
31
background Adobe stock, Kalyakan
35background36
Wetlands International, Priscilla Kagwa
Reseeding exercise taking place in Todonyang,
Turkana County, Kenya
38
Wetlands International, S. Atnafu
39
Shutterstock, Glen Berlin
40
Wetlands International
41
Wetlands International, Ibrahima Fofana
42
Wikipedia
43background Wetlands International, Hae-Jin Park
46
Wetlands International, Nanang Sugana
48
Aulia Erlangga
49
Wetlands International, Yus Noor
50
top Wetlands International, Joeri Borst
bottom Wetlands International, Joeri Borst
52
Caledonian Climate
53
Wetlands International, Román Baigún
54-55 background Wetlands International
54-55 background Wetlands International
56
Adobe stock, James White/Danita Delimont
58
No credit
59
top Wetlands International, Joeri Borst
bottom Wetlands International, Joeri Borst
60
Wetlands International Malaysia
61background Wetlands International
62-63 mapbox.com
65
Wetlands International, Marco Vermaassen

66
67
68
72-73
77
78-79

Wetlands International, Joeri Borst
Wetlands International
Wetlands International, Joeri Borst
background Adobe stock, Radudumitrescu
Wetlands International, Elizabeth Wamba
background Adobe stock, Abdul Momin

Colophon
Copyright© 2023 Wetlands International

Published by Wetlands International
P.O. Box 471
6700 AL Wageningen
The Netherlands

Design and Layout
Endeke Huisman
Penong.com

EditorJulien Anseau
Joeri Borst
Nikita Tiwari

WriterFred Pearce

People guide their boats through algea covered water on the Karatoya River in Bogra, Bangladesh

81 Wetlands
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Annual Review
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wetlands.org