The Potential of Wetlands in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda

Abstract

Wetlands used as cost-effective nature-based solutions provide environmental and socio-economic benefits to people locally and regionally. With significant loss of wetland areas due to expansion of forest, agriculture, and energy production industries, some countries, including Sweden, have begun providing economic support for environmental objectives for wetland conservation and restoration. Targeting such objectives and setting up relevant plans can decrease the risk of losing valuable wetland-related benefits and help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Different ranges of wetland ecosystem services are broadly addressed by the SDGs, however, target-based assessments are required to better understand wetland functionality for sustainable development. This study investigates whether and how wetland ecosystems at local and regional scales can contribute to achieving the SDGs and their targets in Sweden. Scientific literature, policy documents, and international reports on Swedish wetland ecosystems are scrutinized to exemplify the SDGs and their targets, applying a scoring framework based on their interactions. This reveals that, overall, Swedish wetland ecosystems and implemented management plans can positively interact with 10 SDGs and 17 targets at different levels. The analysis also highlights synergies that need to be considered for integrated environmental governance and enhanced policy coherence for Swedish wetland management.