Nairobi: The intergovernmental report reveals that approximately 22% of the world’s wetlands—ranging from freshwater sources like lakes, rivers, and peatlands to coastal ecosystems such as mangroves and coral reefs—have vanished since 1970, marking wetlands as the fastest-disappearing ecosystem on the planet.

Used widely for fisheries, agriculture, and natural flood control, wetlands play a critical role in global environmental and economic systems. Their loss is being driven primarily by land use changes, pollution, agricultural expansion, invasive species, and climate change-related effects like rising sea levels and prolonged droughts.

“The scale of the loss and deterioration is too great to ignore,” said Hugh Robertson, the report’s lead author.

The report highlights the urgent need for significant global investment, estimating that between $275 billion and $550 billion must be allocated annually to mitigate ongoing threats. Current funding levels, however, are described as “significantly underinvested,” though the report does not offer exact current figures.

These findings come just a week ahead of the triennial meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Wetlands, to be held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The convention, signed in 1971 by 172 countries—including the United States, China, and Russia—is the leading international agreement focused on wetland conservation. It remains unclear whether all member states will participate in this year’s meeting.

The report also warns that wetland degradation is most severe in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, though conditions are worsening in Europe and North America as well.