Wetlands International European Association (WI-EA)

Introduction

WI-EA’s proposal for 2024 aims to strengthen the implementation and enforcement of the EU's environmental and climate objectives. It combines activities on EU-level advocacy with innovative wetland solutions, national and/or local level implementation, knowledge development, training, capacity building, and outreach.

Objectives

We aim to capitalize on the Green Deal opportunities for wetland solutions by working to:

1. Halt and reverse the EU’s loss of habitats and species

   • Help achieve the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s 30% protected area target and legally binding nature restoration targets.
   • Support management of migratory waterbirds with international flyway-scale monitoring.
   • Expand the Trans-European Swimways Network to advocate for the protection of migratory fish and catalyze reaching the 25,000 km target for free-flowing rivers.

2. Improve the quality of the EU’s water resources and soils

   • Strengthen implementation and enforcement of freshwater-related Directives and scale up solutions such as barrier removals.
   • Protect and improve high-carbon soils by pioneering climate-friendly alternatives to drainage-based agriculture on peatlands.

3. Achieve EU Climate Objectives on Mitigation and Adaptation

   • Help achieve zero emissions by embedding ambitious targets, mobilizing finance, and delivering knowledge and know-how for the conservation and restoration of peatlands both in Europe and beyond it through EU external actions.
   • Deploy and upscale “natural sponges” as innovative nature-based solutions to address increasingly frequent European floods and droughts, while incorporating wetland solutions for adaptation and disaster reduction.

4. Ensure that the Green Deal transition is sustainable

   • Ensure Fit for 55-related legislation contributes to solving both the climate and nature crises together.
   • Green the EU’s global footprint to prevent GHG emissions and the degradation and loss of wetland ecosystems.