For centuries, man has drained and reclaimed moors and floodplains, i.e. wet landscapes. The aim was to open up settlement areas, to gain arable and pasture land to produce food, to mine raw materials, but also to protect settlements from flood waters and to make transport routes on the water usable. Today, it is apparent that these land uses severely impair important natural functions of peatlands and floodplains, such as the regulation of the water balance, species richness and the storage of greenhouse gases. A rethinking in society and politics has begun in order to harness the potential of wet landscapes to solve the global problems of global warming and species extinction. What was wet, what became dry and what needs to become wet again - that is what this dossier is about in three chapters.