Wetenschappelijk artikelWetland bird conservation: Insights from a horizon scan across Atlantic Europe

The conservation of wetland and wet-grassland birds remains a major challenge across Europe. This challenge is driven by compounding pressures from agricultural intensification, habitat degradation, climate change, and governance constraints. Effective conservation outcomes depend not only on ecological knowledge but also on governance and implementation. Consequently, understanding practitioner perspectives is vital for informing the development of effective conservation strategies. To synthesize practitioner perspectives, we conducted a Horizon Scan survey across eight Atlantic European countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Ireland), engaging 176 conservation professionals. Using a combination of dictionary-based text analysis, term frequency assessment, and keyness analysis, we evaluated perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) for wetland and wet-grassland bird conservation. Habitat management emerged as a unifying and cross-cutting theme across all countries and SWOT categories, while agriculture was predominantly framed as a weakness or threat, except in the Netherlands where it was also associated with opportunities. Climate change and predation were consistently identified as escalating threats, whereas research and monitoring capacity showed strong national disparities, opposing for example Ireland to Belgium and the UK. Keyness analysis revealed distinct national conservation narratives shaped by governance structures, cultural framing, and flagship species. Overall, the results highlight the need for urgent action to counter the structural drivers of wetland and wet-grassland loss, such as agricultural intensification and climate change, while also strengthening monitoring frameworks, cross-border collaboration, and aligning agri-environment schemes with species-specific ecological requirements to improve conservation outcomes for European wetland bird populations.