Conflict at COPs: Russia’s Exit from the Ramsar Convention

Aug 28, 2025 | Eva Baudichau and Meng Wang
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Russia’s withdrawal from the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands didn’t make global headlines—but it probably should have. At first glance, a wetlands convention may seem an unlikely casualty of war. Yet, when Contracting Parties, at their fourteenth meeting, voted to pass a resolution in response to Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, they might have unwittingly (or not?) paved the way for Moscow’s exit of the Ramsar Convention. The collateral damage of “outcasting” the aggressor state raises hard questions about the space environmental institutions have — or should have — to confront conflict, and the backlash that can follow.