2 Feb. 2026 – Achieving the mission of the Sustainable Use of Wild Species Transformative Partnership Platform (SU-TPP) depends on sustainable use everywhere, including wetlands.
On World Wetlands Day, the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme highlights how law, technology and community-led approaches are translating the Ramsar “wise use” philosophy into practice.
WATCH: Interview with Musonda Mumba, the Secretary General of the Convention on Wetlands
- The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme Legal Hub helps countries turn Ramsar principles into practical and enforceable legal frameworks that align with pre-existing multi-lateral agreements.
- Community-driven and culturally respectful approaches result in measurable improvements to biodiversity, climate resilience and human well-being.
READ: “Remote sensing technologies to improve sustainable management of wetlands and waterbirds in the Sahel”
- The SWM Programme’s RESSOURCE+ project is testing remote sensing technologies combined with AI to improve monitoring of wetlands and water bird populations.
Why it matters
The world has lost over 35% of its wetlands since 1970, and the rate of loss is three times faster than forest loss.
February second marks the anniversary of the Convention on Wetlands (RAMSAR), an intergovernmental treaty that establishes the framework for countries to manage and conserve their wetlands. The anniversary is an important time to highlight initiatives like those of the SWM Programme that aim to reverse the trend of disappearing wetlands and evolve towards more “sustainable use.”
The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme is funded by the European Union with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment and the French Development Agency. The initiative is coordinated by a dynamic consortium of four partners, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).