I want to take a moment to share some campaign updates because I figure that, between the winter weather and some of the stories dominating the media headlines lately, we could all use a few reminders that, even in difficult times, collective action does lead to real and lasting change. Just look at the impactful role that people power has played in the recent defence of wetlands.
Campaign Updates
A CHILEAN LAKE, COME BACK TO LIFE, NOW PROTECTED BY LAW
In 2018, Laguna de Aculeo in central Chile dried up, due to structural flaws in water resource management, compounded by devastating droughts.
The lake is part of a larger ecosystem, with underground aquifers and streams that feed into it. Ergo, its disappearance had significant consequences for the surrounding communities who depend on these water sources. The loss also posed a threat to wildlife, including the more than one hundred species of resident and migratory birds that use it as a refuge.
In 2022, the municipality of Paine began the process of having the lake recognized as an urban wetland. When large rainfalls began to refill the basin with water in 2023 and 2024, it highlighted both the resilience of nature, as well as the urgent need for its legal protection. Greenpeace launched a campaign that collected over 35,000 signatures in support of the community’s petition.
People demanded legal status and protection for the lake, and environmental authorities listened. In December 2025, Laguna de Aculeo was declared an urban wetland!
What does this status mean, exactly? More (and better) legal tools to ensure its care. From now on, projects within the area must undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment and the municipality must also establish rules and regulations that define permitted and prohibited activities for its protection.
This is, undoubtedly, a victory for the country’s wetlands! In a context where the world has lost around 35% of its wetlands since the 1970s, this kind of legal protection represents a significant (and urgent) step toward protecting key ecosystems to mitigate the climate crisis.
Greenpeace is also celebrating this declaration as a “citizen victory”—that is, as a testament to the power of collective action! Just look at what we can achieve when we set our minds to something and join forces to make it happen!
Onwards!
MUSEUM SCRAPS EXPANSION PLANS ON SPANISH BIOSPHERE RESERVE
In another win for wetlands, the Guggenheim Museum recently withdrew its plans for an expansion project that threatened to destroy a nature reserve!
For years, the Guggenheim Museum (a network of modern and contemporary art museums) had planned to build two new branches in the Basque region of Spain, spread across two sites. The museum first expressed its interest in this kind of expansion in 2008, and the plans were promoted on-and-off until 2022, when local authorities announced their intention to invest in the project.
One of the proposed facilities would have been built just 20 meters from the Urdaibai marshes, a biosphere reserve. A natural treasure, the area is protected (under both national and international designations) for its ecological value. It’s also a haven for a number of endangered species.
Greenpeace, along with many other environmental and community organizations, strongly opposed the plan. The expansion not only threatened Urdaibai’s ecological integrity, but, in doing so, violated the protection requirements the reserve enjoys as part of the European Union’s network of protected areas. Moreover, this expansion would have broken a national law that restricts private development along coastlines.
Therefore, Greenpeace Spain partnered with other organizations to file a lawsuit against the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, arguing that political authorities were reducing the amount of protected land in the region to allow for the construction of the museum.
As protests and public pressure mounted, the message became impossible to ignore. In December, the Guggenheim Foundation announced that it had scrapped its plans for the expansion in Urdaibai.
The lesson? Social mobilization works.
These stories about wetlands are stories about supporters like you, who lend their time, their voice, and their resources to make these kinds of environmental protections possible. We are so inspired to see so many people come together with care, courage, and conviction! And we are so grateful to share this movement with you.
Thank you for making outcomes like these possible.💚
Picture of the Month
Would you like to see something cool? Check out this picture of Greenpeace activists protesting the transport of Russian oil in outdated (and uninsured) tankers! Here, the group can be seen sailing toward the tanker on an inflatable in the Baltic Sea, with a banner that reads “oil kills.”
A year ago, this tanker drifted for hours off the coast of Rügen, a German island in the Baltic Sea. It was unable to maneuver and almost ran aground, so it was towed away by German authorities. The ship has been lying in a roadstead (meaning that it’s been anchored in a designated area) ever since, posing a threat to the environment.
This picture is a very visual reminder of how boldly we’re sailing into our advocacy work in this new year! And, hopefully, into some more campaign successes!
