Wetland loss could cost global economy 39 tln USD, report warns
Unveiled at the ongoing 20th Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN-20) in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, the Global Wetland Outlook report said that although wetlands cover only 6 percent of the Earth's surface, they provide critical ecosystem services, including flood control, food production, and carbon storage, valued at the equivalent of 7.5 percent of global gross domestic product.
Compiled by the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention), the report said that the world is losing wetlands at an annual rate of 0.52 percent. This loss significantly undermines global efforts to combat the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, hunger and poverty.
Musonda Mumba, secretary general of the Convention on Wetlands, said that restoring degraded wetlands could unlock massive socio-economic benefits for rural communities and accelerate the green transition.
"We need to value wetlands and increase investments towards their restoration, since losing them comes at a heavy cost to planetary health and livelihoods," Mumba said.
The report, titled "Valuing, Conserving, Restoring and Financing Wetlands," estimated that about 411 million hectares of wetlands have been lost globally since 1970, representing a decline of 22 percent.
It added that 25 percent of the remaining wetlands are degraded, suffering from unsustainable land-use practices, invasive species, pollution, rapid urbanization, and climate change impacts.
The report was released ahead of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP15), scheduled for July 23-31 in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife Evelyn Ndlovu said that the data from the report will help inform policy and legislative interventions to halt wetland depletion.
Ndlovu called for cross-border wetland conservation initiatives, knowledge sharing, innovative financing, and greater community engagement to help restore the ecological health of this vital ecosystem across Africa.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Feature: Empty stalls, hollow stomachs -- Gaza's markets in age of blockade
GAZA, July 22 (Xinhua) -- At noon in Deir al-Balah's market square, Mohammed Nassar's shadow stretched thin across the bleached wood of empty stalls. His fingers trembled as they wiped sweat -- not from labor, but from exhaustion. "I've been walking here since six in the morning," the 35-year-old from the city of central Gaza told Xinhua. "And there is simply nothing to eat." "For over three weeks, my children and I haven't tasted bread. No vegetables, no fruit, no flour. I can hardly speak to you because of the hunger," he said. Where spices once perfumed the air, only dust swirled. Where vendors once haggled, silence hung like a shroud. The markets in Deir al-Balah and other places in Gaza, such as Khan Younis and Gaza City, once arteries of commerce, have become synonyms for absence. Fifteen more people, including four children, died from starvation in the past 24 hours, whereas 101 people, including 80 children, have lost their lives to hunger and malnutrition since March, the Gaza-based health authorities said Tuesday, adding that "the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate amid the ongoing Israeli blockade." The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on social media platform X on Tuesday that "People in Gaza, including UNRWA colleagues, are fainting due to severe hunger. They are being starved." "Meanwhile, just a few kilometers away from Gaza, supermarkets and shops are loaded with food and other goods. Lift the siege. Allow UNRWA to bring in food and medicines," it said. The numbers are telling a story of cruelty, and the faces another one of desperation. Saleem al-Hato, a 50-year-old father of seven, was displaced from Gaza City and now resides in a makeshift shelter in Deir al-Balah. "Yesterday, my daughter cried all day because she had nothing to eat. We asked our neighbors for help and received two cans of peas. That's all we had for the entire family," he lamented. Even chroniclers of this crisis are crumbling. "Famine has reached a terrifying level. The markets are almost entirely empty, and whatever is available is far beyond the reach of ordinary people. A kilogram of flour now costs more than 200 shekels (over 50 U.S. dollars). I haven't been able to buy any for three days," Mohammed Odwan, a 39-year-old journalist and father of three, confessed. "I am dizzy, weak, and can barely move. I cannot focus on reporting. My body is exhausted, and my children are hungry," Odwan said, voice fraying. 37-year-old photographer Abdel Hakim Abu Riash, 20 kilograms lighter, documented his own decline in a tent in Gaza City: "My wife and I skip meals just so our children can eat something, usually just one meal a day, and often not even that." "The famine is not just taking lives; It's stripping people of their dignity. I can barely hold my camera anymore. Many of us go two days without eating a single thing. This is the reality for most Gazans now," he told Xinhua. Bahaa Abu Sultan, a former trader, now lives as an unemployed, displaced person in a southern Gaza shelter. "Before the war, life was stable. We had food, water, jobs, shelter," he told Xinhua. "Now, everything has collapsed. Hunger defines our lives. We are no longer the people we once were. I haven't eaten for two days. I try to sleep during the day to escape hunger. Most of us can barely stand on our feet anymore," he said. As dusk falls, children would sleep on clothing piles, startled awake not by hunger pangs but Israeli airstrikes. Their parents, in the meantime, would whisper the same question: "Will tomorrow be the day we find bread?"
New Straits Times
4 days ago
- New Straits Times
3 killed, 150 rescued after passenger ship catches fire in Indonesia
JAKARTA: At least three people were killed and about 150 others rescued after a passenger ship caught fire in the waters of Indonesia's North Sulawesi province on Sunday, according to Veri Ariyanto, a senior official at the provincial Search and Rescue Office. "Three people were killed, and nearly 150 were rescued safely. They were rescued by the joint rescue team and local fishermen's boats," he told Xinhua. The search and rescue operation is still underway. Two ships, several rigid inflatable boats, and other vessels have been deployed, Ariyanto said. The ship, KM Barcelona 5, caught fire while sailing in the waters off Manado, the capital city of the province, around 1.00pm local time, Dani Repi, head of the quick reaction team of the provincial Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency, said. Approximately 280 people were on board, he said.–BERNAMA
The Star
4 days ago
- The Star
Another tragedy at sea in Indonesia - one dead, hundreds evacuated as passenger ship in north Sulawesi
JAKARTA (Xinhua): One person was killed, and the evacuation of hundreds of passengers is underway after a passenger ship caught fire in the waters of Indonesia's North Sulawesi province on Sunday, according to Dani Repi, head of the quick reaction team of the provincial Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency. The ship, KM Barcelona 5, caught fire while sailing in the waters off Manado, the capital city of the province, at around 1:00 pm local time, Repi said. "One person, a woman, was killed. Evacuation of many others is still ongoing, and many passengers jumped into the sea," he told Xinhua. Approximately 280 people were on board, he added. - Xinhua
