Giving Green recognises Wetlands International as top biodiversity nonprofit
Giving Green fills a critical gap in climate philanthropy: helping donors maximise their impact by conducting research and analysing the most effective solutions for them. Wetlands International is proud to be recognised as a top nonprofit in their latest research report Reducing Biodiversity Loss.
Wetlands are among the most productive yet threatened ecosystems on Earth. Wetlands are climate superheroes: coastal wetlands like mangroves and seagrass meadows store large amounts of carbon and protect shorelines from sea level rise; peatlands are rich carbon stores that also regulate floods and droughts. Wetlands are biodiversity havens, supporting a large variety of flora and fauna including several endangered species. Healthy wetlands underpin our societies and economies, ensuring water resilience. They provide more than one billion livelihoods across the world – through aquaculture, crop production, transport, and tourism. Fish harvested from wetlands provide the primary source of protein for more than one billion people and rice paddies feed 3.5 billion people annually. The estimated annual economic value of water and freshwater ecosystems is USD58 trillion – equivalent to 60% of global GDP. And urban wetlands provide spaces for citizens to connect with nature and improve their mental and physical health.
Despite their importance, we have lost 22% of the world’s wetlands since 1970, and we continue to lose them at alarming rates. The biggest threat to wetlands comes from humans. We have lost vital wetland connectivity through dams, dykes, drains, ditches, and deforestation. The loss and degradation of wetlands has a chain reaction, driving biodiversity loss, stressing food and water supplies, and exacerbating the impacts of climate change like floods, droughts and wildfires.
The good news is that solutions and knowledge on how to restore degraded wetlands already exist. But a massive gap remains in financing wetland action. To meet global biodiversity goals, including the protection 30% of land and sea by 2030, the biodiversity financing gap requires an estimated $700 billion per year.
Our strategy for the next decade, Wetlands for Life, outlines how we plan to conserve and restore rivers, lakes, peatlands, mangroves and other wetlands across the globe as well as trigger transformational change in policies, business practices and financial flows for the benefits of people, biodiversity and climate.