Our global organisation Wetlands International has been involved with wetland protection since 1954. The organisation changed it’s name to Wetlands International after a fusion of three regional organisations in 1995.
Wetlands International started its activities in 1954. In those days, we were called the International Wildfowl Inquiry and our focus was on the protection of waterbirds. Later, our name became International Waterfowl & Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB). In time, our scope became wider; besides waterbirds, we also started to work on the protection of wetland areas.
Later, organisations with similar objectives emerged in Asia and the Americas: the Asian Wetland Bureau (AWB) (initiated as INTERWADER in 1983) and Wetlands for the Americas (WA) (initiated in 1989). In 1991, these three organisations started to work closely together.
In 1995, the working relation developed into a global organisation now known as Wetlands International. Read more