EXPLORE

Greening the economy

Wetlands International promotes economic development that is compatible with conservation and the wise use of wetlands. This means advising sector-leading companies, and advocating public and industry-wide sustainability criteria.

The problem

The values of wetlands, such as water, climate regulation and biodiversity, are often overlooked or undervalued. In many cases where the values of wetlands are understood, maintaining them maybe advantageous to many, but not in the economic interest of certain powerful groups.

Key industry sectors

We aim to prevent wetlands loss by focusing on a few key industry sectors. These are:

The loss and degradation of tropical peatlands due to palm oil production
The rapid growth of biofuel crops and their demand for land and water
Mangrove loss due to shrimp aquaculture
The impact of hydropower and irrigation schemes on downstream water users (for instance Mali and India)
Risks due to oil spills on wetlands from the oil and gas sector

What we do

We work in a critical but constructive role with the corporate sector to improve their performance. In order to improve policies and practices, we have a partnership with Shell and are members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels.

We advocate greening public policies. Examples are our inputs on the palm oil and pulp concession policies in Indonesia, the agreements in the Niger Basin Authority on water use and the European criteria for biofuels through the EU Renewable Energy Directive.

What we achieved

We are extending this work around the world to improve environmental sustainability criteria. See our positive impacts on behalf of wetlands:

We excluded all wetlands and undrained peat soil from drainage for biofuel production in the European Biofuels policy, (article 17.4a and 17.5 of the Renewable Energy Directive)
We made the European policies clear on excluding the drainage of wetlands and peat soil (the CEN standard and Communication of the European Commission)
We created a working group within the RSPO to prevent further use of peatlands for palm oil
We were instrumental in establishing the 2011 rainforest clearing moratorium in Indonesia, saving all peatland areas from palm oil or pulp concessions

We are extending this work around the world to improve environmental sustainability criteria. See our positive impacts on behalf of wetlands:

We excluded all wetlands and undrained peat soil from drainage for biofuel production in the European Biofuels policy, (article 17.4a and 17.5 of the Renewable Energy Directive)
We made the European policies clear on excluding the drainage of wetlands and peat soil (the CEN standard and Communication of the European Commission)
We created a working group within the RSPO to prevent further use of peatlands for palm oil
We were instrumental in establishing the 2011 rainforest clearing moratorium in Indonesia, saving all peatland areas from palm oil or pulp concessions