Abstract: Wetlands, hailed as the "kidneys of the Earth", hold great significance for maintaining the stability of ecosystems. This study investigated 10 important wetland reserves along the Silk Road. Based on remote sensing data from the ZY3 satellite, it extracted the wetland types in 2015 and 2020 through interactions between object-oriented analysis and manual interpretation. As a result, a dataset of wetland distribution and its dynamic changes in the reserves was established. By combining topography, hydrological conditions, ecological importance, and wetland type transition, this study proposed a method for assessing the spatial potential of returning farmlands to wetlands. The results of wetland information extraction show that from 2015 to 2020, the wetland area in the 10 reserves exhibited a net increase of 238.04 km² thanks to both natural and anthropogenic factors. Such an increase was dominated by lacustrine wetlands, with the wetland rate rising by 0.58% generally. This demonstrates that the establishment of ecological reserves posed a positive impact on regional wetland protection. However, in local regions, wetlands still showed a trend of degradation, covering an area of 77.00 km². The potential analysis results of returning farmlands to wetlands indicate that a total of 325.13 km² of farmlands should be returned to wetlands, consisting of 10.63 km² requiring high-priority restoration, 167.02 km² subjected to medium-priority restoration, and 147.48 km² requiring low-priority restoration. The proposed region-specific scheme for ecological restoration in wetlands can provide decision-making support for wetland protection and management along the Silk Road.