Your excellency WANG Guanghua, Minister of Natural Resources, People’s Republic of China
Your excellency WANG Menghui, Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee,
Dr. Musonda Mumba, Secretary General of the Convention on Wetlands,
Fellow speakers, delegates
Thank you for the opportunity address this gathering of the RAMSAR Convention – a critical platform for protecting global wetlands.
Friends, the degradation of wetlands is amongst the most alarming elements of the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, of nature and biodiversity loss, and of pollution and waste.
Wetland ecosystems are being drained and destroyed by rapid urbanization, conversion to agriculture and water extraction. They are being used as dumping zones for pollution and waste. Their resources are being extracted and overused. As a result, they are disappearing three times faster than forests.
To meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, we must protect and restore wetlands. Coastal wetlands sequester carbon up to 55 times faster than tropical rainforests. Wetlands contain about 12 per cent of the global carbon pool. When we drain them, we release millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and other substances of concern, such as arsenic. Wetlands also offer increased resilience to extreme events for local communities.
To meet the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework, once agreed, we must protect and restore wetlands. They are hotspots of biological diversity that provide ecosystem services essential to the survival of countless species.
To slow the crisis of pollution, we must protect and restore wetlands. Wetlands can improve water quality by removing pollutants from surface waters, through sediment trapping, nutrient removal and detoxification. They act as buffer zones or sponges to absorb, store and re-processes harmful substances.
Wetlands clearly hold massive potential for addressing the triple planetary crisis. And raising ambition on wetlands is about raising ambition for people: their health and livelihoods. By improving the management of wetlands, we can deliver food, water security and health benefits estimated at over USD 47 trillion a year.
Friends,
There are three things we can do to back healthy wetlands.
One, triple investments in nature by 2030.
We need to redirect nature-harming subsidies and incentivize nature-positive, regenerating investments to increase financing for nature-based solutions, including for wetlands.
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is a great way to promote the joint action, financing and tools needed to protect, restore and rewet diverse types of wetland ecosystems.
Equally, the unea resolution… definition of nature-based solutions at UNEA5 is a springboard to strengthen multilateralism and place critical nature-based solutions like wetlands at the heart of efforts to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Two, transform food systems.
The way our food systems work puts huge pressure on wetlands. We need to move to peat-free, drainage-free and deforestation-free supply-chains, through investing in nature-positive agriculture and sustainable land-use financing. As individuals we need to change our lifestyles and consumption patterns.
Three, deliver an ambitious global biodiversity framework.
Crunch time is coming soon for the framework, as parties in December head to Montreal for the second part of the Convention on Biological Diversity COP 15. We know that we need an ambitious framework, with clear, measurable targets backed by financing. We know that we need to address the five drivers of biodiversity loss: sea- and land-use change, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive species. Yet, as things stand, there are around 1,400 brackets in the agreement. Governments must instruct their negotiators to shed these brackets and deliver.
Friends,
Ramsar COP 14 is a chance for you to increase collaboration and coordination around these key actions. Such collaboration is already evident in, for example, how UNEP and Ramsar are working together to help countries monitor changes to water-related ecosystems, including wetlands, and reporting this progress towards SDG target 6.6.
But we can and must do more to push for wetland protection and restoration to become a priority solution to the triple planetary crisis.
Thank you.
