Wetlands International welcomes the new International Mangrove Center in China
Wetlands international statement: The new International Mangrove Center, part of a growing international movement to conserve and restore mangroves.
Wetlands International welcomes the International Mangrove Center (IMC) in Shenzhen, China, which was officially recognised and adopted today as a new Ramsar Regional Initiative at the 62nd meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee in Gland, Switzerland.
Considering the pressures on our scarce mangrove resources and the values of mangroves to address climate, development, and biodiversity conservation needs, Chinese leadership in the global conservation of mangroves comes at a timely moment. China’s deep knowledge and expertise about mangroves makes them a crucial part of driving global action toward their much-needed conservation and restoration.
China undertook extensive engagement to develop the International Mangrove Centre since the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands COP14 when the initiative was first proposed including the successful International Workshops on Mangrove Conservation and Collaboration organized by NFGA in Shenzhen earlier this year, in which Wetlands International was honoured to participate.
We are looking forward to continuing to collaborate in mobilising successful mangrove action at scale and strongly support the IMC’s commitment of fostering close alignment between mangrove-related initiatives in different parts of the world. This will be crucial for sharing best available science, best practices, and lessons learned, avoiding duplication of efforts and collectively working towards mangrove action at the scale needed to reach global targets.
As an International Organisation Partner (IOP) of the Wetlands Convention, as well as a member of the Global Mangrove Alliance, Wetlands International sees great value in collaboration between the International Mangrove Centre and the Mangrove Breakthrough: a community of action across state and non-state actors under the Race to Resilience to work together towards the shared ambition to securing the future of over 15 million hectares of mangroves globally by 2030, through collective accelerated action on: Halting Mangrove Loss, Restoring half of recent losses, Doubling the Protection of Mangroves globally and Ensuring sustainable long-term finance for all existing mangroves.
Several Contracting Parties to the wetlands convention are already part of the Mangrove Breakthrough, and all are warmly invited to join alongside civil society and private sector stakeholders and join us in our Mangrove Breakthrough events at COP28.