FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Institute for Green Finance & Law (IGFL)
Website: greenfinancelaw.org
Date: 4th September, 2024
Ahead of the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Institute for Green Finance & Law (IGFL) is calling for bold, actionable outcomes that integrate wetlands into the core of climate finance, carbon markets, and environmental legal reform.
Wetlands—critical for carbon sequestration, water purification, biodiversity, and climate adaptation—continue to be underfunded and undervalued in global frameworks. IGFL emphasizes that without strong financial and legal systems underpinning wetland protection, the global community risks failing to meet its biodiversity and climate goals.
IGFL’s Five Key Expectations for Ramsar COP15
- Mainstream Wetlands into Climate Finance
- Ramsar Parties must align wetland protection with global climate finance frameworks such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Paris Agreement mechanisms, and national climate policies (NDCs).
- Wetlands should be prioritized as key Nature-based Solutions (NbS) across funding instruments.
- Enable Legal Pathways for Wetland Carbon Markets
- IGFL urges Parties to create clear, community-inclusive legal frameworks for blue carbon credits from peatlands, mangroves, and marshes.
- Legal safeguards must ensure transparency, benefit-sharing, and Indigenous land rights.
- Establish a Global Wetlands Investment Facility
- Modeled on the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund (GBFF), IGFL proposes a new facility to de-risk private capital, channel blended finance, and support community-led conservation projects.
- Enhance Legal and Governance Mechanisms
- Strengthening legal protections for wetlands requires robust national governance systems, environmental justice mechanisms, and enforceable laws.
- IGFL supports new global guidelines for national wetland legislation.
- Promote Cross-Conventions Synergy
- Ramsar COP15 must work in greater alignment with the UNFCCC, Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and other multilateral environmental agreements to harmonize legal tools and funding flows.
Ramsar COP15 should not only be about conservation declarations. It must signal a global financial and legal shift. Wetlands are vital infrastructure, and we need the policies, legal systems, and investments to treat them as such.
The Institute for Green Finance & Law urges all stakeholders (governments, multilateral institutions, civil society, communities, researchers, and the private sector) to work together in shaping a new era of integrated wetland governance.
About IGFL
The Institute for Green Finance & Law is a global think tank and policy institute dedicated to designing and strengthening legal-financial frameworks that support climate action, environmental governance, and sustainable development.
