Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Local
e.g. establishing a plan for the sustainable
exploitation of the fishery in a given wetland;
management plans and conservation
objectives for specific sites.
given wetland, it is harder to turn these into
monetary values as the basis for decision making.
This is a current area of research, which has
focused on aspects such as:
The advent of aerial photography, remote sensing
and spatial analysis techniques, such as GIS, are
making an important contribution to wetland
conservation. For example, wetland boundaries are
sometimes delineated through the use of aerial
photography as an alternative or complementary
tool to field data (National Research Council
1995). Meanwhile, satellite remote-sensing data
can help to identify wetland hydrology,
particularly useful in the context of developing
countries (Haack 1996). In the case of GIS, the
analysis of spatial information can be used for the
management and study of wetlands, for example
by looking at land-use change or water quality
data. It helps to set the wetland in its surrounding
landscape and human pressures. The application of
aerial photography and remote sensing has
identified the importance of technology and the
need for personnel trained in such methods and
with a field knowledge of wetlands (Committee
on Characterisation of Wetlands 1995).
There is also a need to quantify wetland values,
not just over the short term but on into the future.
While quantities can be put on certain
components of wetlands, for example the weight
of fish caught per year, the number of geese
overwintering and mass of nitrogen stored in a
1
Evaluating the global and regional role of
wetlands. The commercial and environmental
value of coastal marsh in Georgia, USA, has
been calculated at $50,000-125,000 per
hectare, and the 'life support' value of
saltmarsh (based on the conversion of solar
energy) has similarly been put at $212,500 per
hectare (Odum, in Maltby 1986).
2
Calculating the value of harvested resources.
The market value of the fish caught from a
wetland can be calculated for a given year or
season, as can the value of any associated
industry and employment.
3
Evaluation systems that seek to compare
natural wetlands with human economic
systems. This approach uses the measure of
willingness to pay to achieve monetary value
(Mitsch and Gosselink 1993).
Not surprisingly, these different methodologies
typically give different values for the same wetland.
The lack of consistent and accepted
methodologies for comparing wetlands with
conventional economic goods and services limits
the usefulness of the estimates that have been
made, and there is a need for much more research
by human geographers and economists.
Box 20.3
The Ramsar Convention (http:/iucn.org/themes/ramsar/)
The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance
especially as Waterfowl Habitat (usually referred to as the
Ramsar Convention after the place of its ratification in Iran
in 1971) is one of the most important instruments for
conserving wetlands of international importance. This
international treaty laid the basis for international
cooperation in conserving wetlands and by 1991, more than
sixty countries had signed up to the Ramsar Convention.
The convention requires the signatories:
1 To designate wetlands of international importance for
inclusion in a list of so-called Ramsar sites.
2 To maintain the ecological character of their listed
Ramsar sites.
3 To organise their planning so as to achieve the wise
use of all of the wetlands on their territory.
4 To designate wetlands as nature reserves.
There are more than 500 wetland sites on the
Ramsar list covering in excess of 30 million hectares
of wetland habitat. To be considered a wetland of
international importance, a site must (
Source:
Gleick
1993: p. 287):
1 Support a significant population of waterfowl,
threatened species, or peculiar fauna or flora.
2 Be a regionally representative example of a type of
wetland or an exemplar of a biological or
hydrogeomorphic process.
3 Be physically and administratively capable of
benefiting from protection and management
measures.
