VERSION REPRO OP SUBS ART PRODUCTION CLIENT
COPs and connections Coming together for biodiversity When the 15th Convention on Biological Diversity COP meeting gets under way in China, WWT will be flying the flag for wetlands. But how optimistic can we feel about the latest government ambitions – and what international cooperation and creative intervention is needed to implement change? or three-quarters of a century now, WWT has been a driving force in wildlife conservation in the UK and overseas: championing, defending and advocating for threatened species. As governments worldwide fail to meet climate and biodiversity action targets, we have already been taking action (see overleaf) to put wetlands front and centre of efforts to tackle this emergency. To this end, in recent years, you may have noticed a shift in our focus – a broadening from species to systems. “You might be
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wondering why you hear less about ducks and geese these days, and more about blue carbon, flood alleviation and water quality, or the benefits of urban wetlands to wellbeing,” says Geoff Hilton, our Head of Conservation Evidence. “You may wonder what this has to do with wildlife.” The answer is, of course, everything. The naturalist and conservationist John Muir wrote: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Wetlands, and especially rivers, illustrate this connectivity
in a literal as well as metaphorical sense: actions in upper catchments have implications for species and systems downstream. You can invest massively in a reserve, but if water flowing in is polluted with domestic, industrial or agricultural effluents, the gains are limited. Wetlands are the responsibility of a whole society, and that’s another good reason to ensure everyone has a chance to care. Communities that have nature close to them become inspired and empowered, and are much more likely to respond to calls
