The special issue in the journal Nature Conservation underscores the urgent need for action to counteract the ongoing loss of wetlands in Europe. Only 12% of the EU's riverine and coastal wetlands are currently in a favorable conservation status. Averting large-scale losses of these valuable ecosystems in the coming years will depend on the decisions taken today.

The restoration of wetlands is worth it, as evidenced by an assessment of their multiple ecosystem services. Nature-based solutions for flood risk management or coastal protection, such as reconnecting river floodplains as water retention areas or realigning dykes, are often cheaper than technical solutions. They also offer a number of additional benefits for people and nature - for example, contributions to carbon sequestration, water provision, disaster risk reduction, nutrient retention, erosion control, recreation and nature tourism. If these are taken into account, the benefits of wetland restoration measures often far outweigh the costs.

There are already many successful examples of the restoration of river floodplains and coastal wetlands, as numerous case studies show. But how can wetland restoration be scaled up, beyond pilot projects? The special issue identifies key success factors for achieving this - including, among others, the meaningful involvement of all stakeholders and the local population, adaptive implementation based on regular monitoring and evaluation of success, and the long-term and reliable provision of financial resources. 

With regard to the current policy context, the special issue identifies the EU Restoration Regulation as a decisive instrument. Authors and editors emphasize the critical importance of implementing this regulation effectively and ambitiously, in order to promote the large-scale restoration of European riverine and coastal wetlands in the coming years.

The publication was developed as part of the “BioClim-Wetlands” project, commissioned by BfN with funds from BMUKN. It comprises 15 peer-reviewed articles. On 26 February, the special issue was published in the international journal Nature Conservation, with authors and editors presenting it at a virtual launch event on the same day. The open access publication is now freely available for download on the publisher's website.