The white paper, Prioritising Wetland Conservation and Restoration in Europe: United Voices for More Policy Impact, brings together evidence and recommendations from seven EU-funded projects, including RESTORE4Cs, with contributions from Eleftheria Kampa, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute. The paper highlights the urgent need to accelerate wetland conservation and restoration across Europe, as degraded wetlands continue to drive biodiversity loss, weaken water resilience, and turn ecosystems that can store carbon into sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

The publication identifies four key priorities for policy action: improving coherence across EU policy frameworks, mobilising public and private finance, enabling landscape-scale implementation, and strengthening monitoring systems alongside stakeholder participation. Drawing on examples from Finland, Germany and Spain, it shows that successful wetland restoration depends not only on ecological knowledge but also on coordinated governance, fair incentives for land users, robust monitoring, and inclusive engagement with local communities.

With important EU policy processes underway, including the implementation of the Nature Restoration Regulation, the development of national restoration plans, and future discussions around the Water Framework Directive and agricultural policy, the white paper provides timely recommendations for policymakers at EU, national and regional levels. It calls for wetlands to be recognised as critical natural infrastructure for climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity recovery, water security and long-term socio-economic resilience.