Report of the Study of the Economies of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Water and Wetlands

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Publication date: October 2012

This report by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) team says that the key role that rapidly diminishing wetlands play in supporting human life and biodiversity needs to be recognized and integrated into decision-making as a vital component of the transition to a resource-efficient, sustainable world economy.

Water security is widely regarded as one the key natural resource challenges currently facing the world. Human drivers of ecosystem change, including destructive extractive industries, unsustainable agriculture and poorly managed urban expansion, are posing a threat to global freshwater biodiversity and water security for 80 per cent of the world's population.