A new report by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Global Wetland Outlook 2025: Valuing, conserving, restoring and financing wetlands (GWO 2025), warns that without urgent action, one fifth of the world’s remaining wetlands could vanish by 2050.
Wetlands, which sustain life across the planet, are disappearing faster than any other ecosystem.
According to GWO 2025, the estimated cost of this habitat loss is up to USD$39 trillion in benefits that support people, economies, and nature.
Wetlands provide ecosystem services including clean water, food production, flood protection, and carbon storage. They also support livelihoods across sectors like agriculture, aquaculture, and tourism.
Launched ahead of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP15) which is currently underway in Zimbabwe, GWO 2025 outlines four pathways to reversing wetland loss and unlocking nature-positive investment:
Integrate wetland value in decision-making – treating wetlands as essential infrastructure in land-use, water, and economic planning.
Recognize wetlands as key to the global water cycle – for their role in storing, filtering, and regulating water.
Embed wetlands in innovative financing mechanisms – including carbon markets, resilience bonds, and blended finance.
Mobilize public and private resources for wetland restoration – through partnerships that fund action on the ground and support local communities.
The Global Wetland Outlook is the flagship report of the Convention on Wetlands, developed by its Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP). The 2025 edition presents the latest global data on the extent and condition of wetlands, evaluates their economic and societal value, quantifies the costs of ongoing loss and degradation, and outlines policy-relevant pathways for conservation, restoration, and financing.
Click here to download the report in full
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