Policy brief: tackling policy dilemmas for wetland restoration 

As Europe accelerates efforts to restore wetlands and riverine ecosystems in line with biodiversity and climate goals, several complex policy dilemmas are emerging. This policy brief explores the key tensions and outlines governance approaches to support effective and inclusive restoration. 

Header photo: Danube Delta by Ivanica Monica from Getty Images 

The EU biodiversity and climate regulations call for a significant scaling up of wetland restoration across the EU. While restoration offers significant long-term benefits for biodiversity, climate resilience, and ecosystem services, its implementation often confronts conflicting objectives embedded in existing legal, financial, and sectoral frameworks. In this policy brief, we discuss dilemmas such as tensions between species protection goals and dynamic ecosystem processes, trade-offs between carbon-focused rewetting and biodiversity needs, and mismatches between restoration incentives and agricultural subsidies.

Policy options 

Addressing these dilemmas is essential to ensure restoration efforts are effective, scalable, and socially acceptable. In the policy brief, we propose a few policy option to address these challenges: 

• Assuring policy coherence to support landscape-scale restoration.
• Tackle the rigidity of conservation targets with dynamic ecosystem restoration standards.
• Prioritize public funding using multi-benefit targeting models.
• Align restoration finance by blending public subsidies with private investment.

REWET: a laboratory on European scale 

REWET is a laboratory for the restoration of wetlands at European scale. In the REWET project, funded by the European Union, NGOs, universities, companies and institutions joined forces to study the full potential of wetland areas. With information from seven open laboratories, we are developing a comprehensive understanding of how European wetlands can best contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation.