This commitment aims to bring together existing information, data and case studies on the economics of water and wetlands to generate a better understanding of the ecosystem service values of water and wetlands to encourage additional policy momentum and business commitment for their conservation, investment and wise use. It will report on gaps, recommendations and capacity building needs. Future efforts will focus on capacity building for all stakeholders. Materials and workshops will be developed and organised with each stakeholder group to strengthen knowledge and application findings in decision/ policy making. Audience: all levels of government, the private sector and NGOs.

Many international fora have identified the improved need for data and information on the value of water and wetlands. Under the TEEB initiative, much information, data and case studies have been collected. The first step is to draw together the TEEB information and data and to prepare a synthesis report on existing data and information on TEEB for water and wetlands. This report will help identify major gaps and inconsistencies in current knowledge of the economics of water and wetlands, so as to inform agenda-setting for further work on the economics of water and wetlands. A core team of authors has been established to compile the report, including members of the TEEB team, IUCN, WI and Ramsar Convention on Wetlands Secretariat.
The findings will make a significant contribution inter alia also to the planned periodic State of the World's Wetlands and their Ecosystem Services' for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands reporting, the scoping for a first edition of which is currently underway by the STRP, and future work on a Global Wetland Outlook reporting. It will feed into the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) of UNEP and CBD Global Biodiversity Outlook 4

The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
in partner with
The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
Institute for European Environment Policy (IEEP)
IUCN
UNEP TEEB Team
Wetlands International (WI)
UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
First phase of activities is supported by the Norwegian, Swiss and Finnish Governments and the IUCN.