The virtual launch of the new Special Issue, “Wetlands in a Changing Climate”, published in Pensoft Publishes’ open-access journal Nature Conservation, took place on 26 January 2026. The event attracted more than 300 participants from around the world, reflecting the growing international commitment to wetland restoration and climate resilience.

The session was opened by Dr Kim Grützmacher from the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). Guests were also formally welcomed by Flore Lafaye de Micheaux from the Convention on Wetlands, who emphasised the importance of long-term commitment to these ecosystems. 

The Special Issue represents a major international collaboration, bringing together 15 peer-reviewed articles authored by more than 100 researchers from 16 countries. It serves as an interdisciplinary resource for the urgent restoration of our coasts and floodplains.

Among the speakers at the launch were Mathias Scholz, coordinator of the SpongeBoost project, and project partner Ute Susanne Kaden (UFZ). Both are lead authors within the collection, which features eight papers produced by the SpongeBoost consortium as part of its ongoing project activities. The articles address topics such as wetland restoration under climate change, biodiversity pressures on European riverine and coastal wetlands, ecosystem service assessments in floodplains, nutrient retention functions, integrated riparian monitoring, socio-economic valuation of nature-based solutions, EU policy frameworks, and challenges in restoring free-flowing rivers.

The eight SpongeBoost papers included in the collection are:

• European riverine and coastal wetlands under pressure: biodiversity and climate change

• Assessing ecosystem services across scales to support nature-based solutions in river floodplains: a review of non-monetary tools 

• Floodplains and coastal wetlands as nutrient sinks: a restoration perspective

• Towards effective and integrated riparian wetland monitoring in Europe: challenges and opportunities

• Nature-based solutions with sponge functions: socio-economic importance and valuation 

• Wetlands in the EU policy context

• Challenges and opportunities in restoring European free-flowing rivers

• Restoring coasts and floodplains

The event concluded with a panel discussion featuring leading experts in wetland science and policy. Participants included Dr Carles Ibáñez, Scientific Director of the Climate Resilience Center (Eurecat); Dr habil. Sebastian Birk, MERLIN project coordinator at the University of Duisburg-Essen; Dr Anne Cristina de la Vega-Leinert of UFZ and iDiv; and Prof. Dr Klement Tockner of the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research.

Explore the full issue here.