On World Wetlands Day 2026, Global Wetland Watch is sharing a preview of its data, designed to make wetlands more visible, better understood, and easier to track over time, from local to global scales.
As part of the ongoing efforts under the Global Wetland Watch (GWW) initiative, a national consultation and coordination visit across Australia was conducted. The purpose of this trip was to engage directly with key stakeholders involved in wetland monitoring, policy, and conservation.
The Global Wetland Watch (GWW) has partnered with selected pilot countries to ensure GWW outcomes are designed to serve national needs. South Africa is one of these pilot countries that has joined the discussion and co-development with the GWW team. As part of this in-country engagement, the GWW team has just returned from a 10-day mission to South Africa to conduct workshops and field trips to understand national wetland challenges and come up with new solutions to manage and restore wetlands globally.
The world has mismanaged its freshwater reserves for decades, hampering progress towards the SDGs. Some 50 per cent of countries globally have one or more types of freshwater-related ecosystems – rivers, lakes, wetlands or aquifers – in a state of degradation, finds a recent report from UNEP.
This report contains the findings of the 2023 global reporting and monitoring exercise on SDG indicator 6.6.1 – Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems over time.
The Global Wetland Watch supports countries to protect and restore the world’s wetland ecosystems by utilizing both satellite and in-situ data, and provide high resolution global map layers on wetlands. Facilitated by the UNEP-DHI Centre on Water and Environment, DHI will take the lead in the machine learning and system development, while UNEP will provide strategic leadership and secure political and institutional engagement from governments.
This guide outlines the many ways we can all join forces to give nature a helping hand by acting today, making smart choices and raising our voice for restoration.
We cannot turn back time, but we can grow forests, green our cities, harvest rainwater and eat soil-friendly foods. We are the generation that can make peace with land.
World Wetlands Day is a global awareness campaign celebrated every year on 2 February to highlight the value of wetlands. And, not coincidentally, today is also the official opening day of the Global Wetland Center that DHI has established together with the University of Copenhagen and GEUS!
Read this United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) article about the return of wildlife to the Hudson River, once one of the most polluted rivers in the US.
This note describes key challenges and solutions to managing invasive aquatic plants, focusing on the Yamoussoukro lakes in Côte d’Ivoire.
Over the next six years, the Global Wetland Center will acquire more knowledge on how wetlands can reduce the emission and increase the absorption of greenhouse gases. The new research centre is established by DHI A/S, University of Copenhagen and GEUS and is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation with DKK 60 million.
During COP15, UNEP urged Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to work with nature to protect biodiversity. A UNEP-DHI publication, How Nature Can Help Address Water-related Challenges – Freshwater Ecosystems Technical Brief, highlights the role that freshwater ecosystems can play in tackling the triple planetary crisis – climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution.
UNEP DHI Partnership – Centre on Water and Environment
Agern Allé 5, 2970 Denmark
Tel: +45 45169200