An environmental catastrophe looms over Polesia, Europe’s largest wetland wilderness. Governments want to create a 2,000 km long navigable waterway connecting the Black Sea and the Baltic, that would cut through the heart of the region. Constructing the so-called ‘E40’ waterway would require dredging, damming, straightening, and deepening of pristine rivers. This would lead to the destruction of enormous floodplains and wetlands, home to rare animals and plants, including eagles, bison, bears, wolves and lynx.

The lower Songkhram River basin in northern Thailand was declared the next Ramsar site, giving one of the country’s few abundant waterways an international recognition for its rich biodiversity and ecosystem values. Natalie Phaholyothin, CEO of the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) Thailand said the lower Songkhram River basin was declared as Thailand’s next Ramsar site under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance on 15 May 2020, making it the 15th site in Thailand.