The 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP15) was held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from July 23 to July 31, 2025. This significant event focused on the theme of protecting wetlands for ecological health and climate resilience.
Musonda Mumba, secretary general of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands said “Most of the wetland cities that are accredited in the world are in China, and there has been a demonstration of the intersection between the ecological and the developmental coexistence”.
She added that “If you’re protecting something and there is no enforcement mechanism, you need that enforcement mechanism, and China has done that very well, and those lessons can be shared with other countries to take forward so that other countries can learn from China.”
During the COP15, nine more Chinese cities were awarded Wetland City Accreditation, increasing the total number of such cities in China to 22.
According to China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration, China has carried out more than 630 projects for wetland conservation and restoration over the past five years, with 310,000 hectares of wetland restored, and mangrove area increasing by 8,800 hectares.
Sources:
Xinhua, August 1, 2025. http://www.china.org.cn/2025-08/01/content_118006603.shtml
IUCN, July 31, 2025. https://iucn.org/…/ramsar-cop15-concludes-strengthened…
