This Special Issue explores the crucial role wetlands play in the context of biodiversity and climate change. It demonstrates the vital benefits riverine and coastal wetlands offer to nature and people, including their provision of nature-based solutions to the intertwined crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. It also assesses the vulnerability of these ecosystems to climatic and anthropogenic pressures, underlines the urgent need for action, and showcases concrete approaches for scaling up wetland restoration and conservation effectively. The transdisciplinary volume includes 15 peer-reviewed articles with contributions from over 100 European experts, combining the latest findings from natural and social science with recent policy insights and lessons learned from practice.

The Special Issue is divided into four thematic sections:

• Wetland biodiversity in a changing climate: Understanding their vulnerability

• Wetland ecosystem services and nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation

• Wetland restoration in practice: Opportunities, overcoming barriers and scaling up implementation

• Wetland policy: Enabling a transition towards a resilient future

By bringing together perspectives from science, policy and practice from all across Europe, this Special Issue aims to become a ‘go-to’ resource for those seeking a comprehensive understanding of the unique interplay between wetlands, biodiversity and climate change. The volume follows a source-to-sea approach, connecting the spheres of riverine and coastal research and management, as a basis for integrated responses. While its scope is European, many of the Special Issue’s findings are also relevant to other regions of the world.

The development of this Special Issue was supported by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) with funds of the German Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) as part of the research and development project “BioClim-Wetlands” (FKZ: 3521830200).