The Ramsar Convention recognizes the interdependence of people on wetlands for their important economic, cultural, scientific and recreational values. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) provides a framework for considering the multiple values of nature, including wetlands, and its benefits to society within policy-making and decisionmaking processes. The recognition of the diverse values of wetlands is essential to their wise use, and to ensuring that their […]

Degradation of wetlands reduces resilience against water-related hazards such as floods, droughts and storm surges. Integrating wetlands as natural infrastructure for disaster risk reduction (DRR), alone or in conjunction with traditional “hard” infrastructure, can mitigate hazards and increase the resilience of local communities and those living across entire river basins or coastal zones.   The Ramsar Secretariat has published its Policy Brief ”Wetlands for disaster risk reduction: Effective choices for resilient […]