World set to cross 1.5°C global warming, wetlands critical to this future
A new UNEP report states “global temperature rise is set to cross 1.5°C, likely within the next few years.” The report, Limiting Overshoot, identifies an ‘overshoot, peak, and decline’ pathway as the best remaining option to minimize the magnitude and duration of this overshoot.
Alongside immediate emissions cuts and carbon dioxide removal, we need to restore the ecosystems that aid climate mitigation and adaptation. And this is exactly where wetlands need to be priortised around the world.
Wetlands for climate mitigation
Though it is no longer realistic to mitigate temperature rise to below 1.5°C in the near future, we must still aim for it in the decades to come. Above 1.5°C, every fraction of a degree has exponential impacts – unpredictable weather, food system collapse, global water shortages, increasing numbers of climate refugees, and submersion of low-lying coastal cities.
But healthy wetlands are central to reining in this runaway climate change. They are some of the most efficient natural carbon stores, making vital in our efforts to stabilise the climate.
- Peatlands, despite only covering around 3-4% of the planet’s land surface, contain one-third of the world’s soil carbon, twice the amount of carbon as in the world’s forests.
- Coastal ‘blue carbon’ wetlands — including mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes — sequester carbon below ground, potentially locking it away for centuries. In fact, mangroves store up to 5 times more carbon per area than tropical forests and absorb it from the air about 3 times as quickly.
- Lakes, rivers, and their floodplains are also significant carbon stores. In fact, research shows that Amazonian water bodies capture 39% more carbon per unit area than the rainforest itself.
Wetlands for climate adaptation
The worsening impacts of the climate crisis are primarily being felt through water – extreme floods, droughts, wildfires, storm surges and sea level rise. Healthy wetlands act as natural buffers for our communities and cities against these disasters.
- Mitigating floods: Connected floodplains, free flowing rivers, peatlands and other ‘sponge’ wetlands slow, spread and absorb excess rainfall and floodwaters
- Alleviating droughts: Floodplains and peatlands store excess water in wet times and release it slowly in drier times, reducing water scarcity and the impact of droughts
- Lessening storm surges: Mangroves and seagrass meadows absorb and dissipate wave energy, sheltering communities from storm surges and rising seas
- Keeping deltas above the rising seas: Free flowing rivers deposit sand and gravel that sustains dynamic deltas, stopping these densely populated, highly productive landscapes from disappearing as waters rise
Wetlands are the most threatened ecosystems
Despite their critical importance to people, nature and climate, the diverse benefit of wetlands have long been undervalued and overlooked. Multiple interacting pressures, including agricultural expansion, pollution, infrastructure development, and hydrological disruption are making restoration more complex and urgent.
This has contributed to the loss of around 22% of the world’s remaining wetlands since 1970. And they are continue to be destroyed, drained, dammed, dredged and degraded at an alarming rate. The 2025 Global Wetland Outlook estimated that 25% of surviving wetlands are degraded.
Invest in wetlands now
To build resilience, we must shift our perspective: afforestation is great, but restoring wetlands is better. Healthy wetlands are not marginal lands to be drained or developed, but critical to climate mitigation and adaptation.
We urge governments to recognise wetlands for what they truly are: climate champions. Investing in protecting and restoring them is not optional. It is essential. Especially as the climate crisis is rapidly developing into one of the main drivers of wetland loss and degradation.
Wetlands International calls for coordinated global action to integrate wetlands across Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs); and to mobilise finance for large-scale wetland restoration and conservation. Initiatives like the Mangrove Breakthrough, Freshwater Challenge, and Peatland Breakthrough are important pathways for countries and organisations to accelerate wetland action – to boost climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience.
Protecting them is not optional. It is essential.
