Effective management of wetlands, including conservation and restoration efforts, holds enormous potential to contribute significantly to climate adaptation and mitigation, and conservation of biodiversity. 

The purpose of the Resilience and management of Arctic Wetlands (RAW) initiative is to strengthen engagement on the roles and functions of wetlands as a resource to support sustainable development and resilience in the Arctic. It delivered in May 2021 to meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Arctic States a series of 13 Key Findings and 20 policy and management recommendations designed to act on these Key Findings:

• Key Findings

• Policy Recommendations

RAW has been developed through three phases:

• Phase 1 (2017-2019) mapped the state of knowledge on resilience and management of Arctic wetlands in response to global drivers such as climate change or more local drivers such as changes in land use.

• Phase 2 (2019-2020) identified case studies of wetlands management and conservation, considered indigenous participation in wetlands management, and explored approaches to make national inventories more comparable; and Building upon the outcomes of Phases 1 and 2.

• Phase 3 (2020-2021) developed a series of key findings and recommendations designed to maintain and even strengthen the resilience of wetlands. Many of these findings and recommendations are highly relevant both within and outside the Arctic, and Arctic States have the opportunity to act as role models for sustainable use of wetlands.