Water emergencies are deeply personal to us. Coming from Southeast Asia and southern Africa—two regions that struggle with water challenges—we have witnessed firsthand how water defines the fate of communities and nations.
In many areas of the world, floods have become a persistent risk, displacing millions and causing severe economic losses. Extreme rainfall has led to destroyed homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods. In 2022 alone, floods affected more than 90 million people globally, with damages surpassing $120 billion.
Yet in others, prolonged droughts have had devastating consequences. In southern Africa, rivers are drying up, crippling agriculture and energy production. The severe droughts of recent years have left millions without reliable access to water, and created cascading economic and social challenges.
The extremes of too much or too little water are connected by a simple truth: we cannot solve our water challenges without protecting the ecosystems that regulate them.
Water is running out where we need it most and arriving in excess where we don’t. One in four people lacks access to safe water. Droughts and floods are intensifying, putting not just people, but entire economies at risk. But the global response remains reactive rather than preventative—billions are spent on disaster relief, yet the fundamental role of nature in water resilience remains overlooked.
Across our regions, we have seen how wetland ecosystems sustain life. Rice paddies in Southeast Asia sustain food production while also acting as natural reservoirs, capturing and regulating seasonal water flows. Mangrove forests along coastlines protect from storm surges while helping to stabilize freshwater supplies. In southern Africa, wetlands help sustain livestock and agriculture, with floodplains and seasonal wetlands providing grazing land and water storage during dry periods. The Okavango Delta in Botswana, a Ramsar-listed Wetland of International Importance, is just one example—critical for regional water resilience, supporting biodiversity and sustaining livelihoods in one of Africa’s driest regions.
Wetland ecosystems are nature’s most effective water managers, yet they are disappearing three times faster than forests. The destruction of wetlands in urban areas has increased the severity of floods, while the degradation of inland wetlands has led to worsening desertification.
We tend to focus on large-scale water infrastructure projects—dams, pipelines, and desalination plants—to address water shortages. While these projects play an important role, they cannot fully replace the natural functions of wetlands. Wetlands naturally store water, filter pollutants, and regulate floods and droughts, yet their conservation and restoration remain underfunded.
Every wetland lost further weakens our ability to manage water sustainably.
The global water financing gap is estimated at $1 trillion annually, but only a fraction of this goes toward nature-based solutions. Restoring wetlands is often a cost-effective complement to traditional infrastructure, reducing the need for costly flood defences and water treatment facilities. So why does it continue to be undervalued in water governance?
The international community has already taken some important steps in the right direction. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, depend on addressing wetland loss. Wetland conservation and restoration are essential to building climate resilience and can no longer be sidelined in global funding mechanisms. Governments must integrate wetland protection into national water policies, and the private sector must step up with investment in ecosystem-based water management.
One truth is undeniable: We must rethink water governance. As co-authors of this piece, we know that solving global water issues requires integrated solutions. The Triple A approach presented at the One Water Summit—Advocate, Align, Accelerate—provides a framework for putting wetlands at the centre of water strategies through collaboration. The upcoming COP15 of the Convention on Wetlands, hosted in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in July 2025, presents an opportunity to reinforce commitments to wetland restoration as a solution for water resilience.
Delaying action only deepens losses, as floods and droughts continue to wreak havoc on both people and the planet. Investing in wetlands now prevents far greater costs in the future. Each restored wetland means cleaner water, fewer disasters, and a stronger foundation for resilience.
If we want reliable water both now and for future generations, we must protect the ecosystems that sustain it. Keeping wetlands intact means keeping water flowing—clean, available, and accessible to all.
