The world’s wetlands are disappearing. This is not a projection but a measurable reality, documented over decades and accelerating in ways that defy logic. The new Global Wetland Outlook 2025, the flagship report of the Convention on Wetlands, brings this into sharp focus: wetlands are still being lost faster than any other ecosystem. The science is not the problem. The problem is that we still haven’t put our money where our mouth is.
The numbers are stark. Restoring 30% of degraded wetlands would cost an estimated $3.8 trillion per year—about 2% of global GDP. But wetlands already contribute far more than that to the global economy: $7.98 trillion annually, even using conservative estimates, or $39.01 trillion when all their services are fully accounted for. The math speaks for itself.
Still, wetlands receive only a small fraction of climate finance for nature-based solutions—less than nine per cent is directed toward freshwater ecosystems. They remain overlooked in budgets, underrepresented in plans, and underfunded in action.
This is not only a gap in numbers. It’s a gap in priorities. Wetlands have long been treated as marginal—too complex, too local, too difficult to fit into short-term development frameworks. Their benefits often span ministries and sectors, making them easy to sideline in systems built for tidy, siloed projects.
The truth is that wetlands provide services we cannot afford to lose. They store carbon at a rate forests envy. They protect coastlines from storm surges. They filter pollutants, recharge groundwater, and sustain fisheries. They grow rice and support livestock. They are the very foundations of water, food, and climate security for billions of people.
The question is no longer why wetlands matter. The question is why we keep failing to finance them.
Part of the answer lies in how we structure our funding systems. Wetlands rarely fit into the templates that dominate climate and development finance. Their value is shared across communities and generations, but the mechanisms that guide investment often reward simplicity over impact. As a result, wetlands are frequently left out—not because they lack value, but because they defy convention.
This is why the finance gap is more than a statistic. It is a story of missed opportunities: to invest in prevention rather than recovery, to support communities already stewarding these ecosystems, to build resilience before disaster strikes.
Change is possible, and it’s already happening in pockets. Institutions like the African Development Bank, the Global Environment Facility, and the World Bank are beginning to shift their lens. Wetlands are not charity cases; they are natural infrastructure. In a world of overengineered solutions, wetlands remain among the most cost-effective—and underfunded—systems we have.
Around the world, countries and regions are showing that progress is possible. In Zambia’s Kafue Flats, over a million dollars a year is now being spent to restore basic wetland functions—supporting water supply, grazing, fisheries, and biodiversity for more than 1.3 million people. In East and Southeast Asia, the Regional Flyway Initiative is mobilizing $3 billion in blended finance to protect over 140 wetlands along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, with early projects already underway in Cambodia and China. These efforts are complex and costly—but far cheaper than losing the services wetlands provide. They are models that can, and must, be scaled.
The Global Wetland Outlook 2025 offers no easy reassurances. What it offers is clarity: the tools to change course exist, but time and resources are still flowing in the wrong direction.
As one of the few international forums focused entirely on wetlands and freshwater ecosystems, the upcoming COP15 of the Convention on Wetlands in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, is a rare chance to redirect both. It is uniquely placed to elevate wetlands within the global climate and development agenda. What happens in Victoria Falls could shape the financial and policy landscape for wetlands for years to come.
The evidence is there. The numbers are there. The question is whether we will act now—or keep compounding the costs of delay.
Dr Musonda Mumba is Secretary General, Convention on Wetlands
