Wetland restoration cannot keep up with their decline

A global study finds that wetlands are degrading faster than they can be brought back to health

- By Kristin Engel

South Africa's wetlands are in critical decline," said Dr Farai Tererai, director of biodiversity assessments at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi), on the release of the 2025 Global Wetland Outlook on 15 July.

This follows a global trend of declining wetlands that has severe impacts for people and the environment.

The outlook, published by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and produced by its scientific and technical review panel, warns that without urgent action, one-fifth of the world's remaining wetlands could vanish by 2050. The estimated cost of that loss, according to the outlook, is up to $39-trillion in benefits that support people, economies and nature.

The outlook ultimately synthesises recent scientific and economic evidence to examine the extent of wetland loss and degradation, the ecosystem services that wetlands provide and the actions required to achieve international restoration and conservation targets.

Wetlands, encompassing a diverse range of ecosystems, from marshes and swamps to coastal mangroves and coral reefs, are indispensable for human wellbeing and the planet's ecological balance. They provide myriad ecosystem services, including water purification, flood control, carbon sequestration and support for an astonishing 40% of known plant and animal species.

Despite their immense value, the outlook paints a grim picture of widespread degradation in all regions, with millions of hectares lost and countless freshwater species pushed to the brink. Alarmingly, it finds that since 1970 an estimated 411 million hectares of wetlands (about 22% of the global total) have been lost, and an annual decline of 0.52% continues.