Valuing ecosystem services of wetlands—a tool for effective policy formulation and poverty alleviation

Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems that provide a number of "life-supporting" services of significant value to mankind. Flood control, groundwater replenishment, sediment retention, water purification, recreation, as well as climate change mitigation and adaptation, are just a few of the many valuable ecosystem services that wetlands provide. Despite these benefits, owing to the poorly understood economic value of these services, policy decisions are taken without considering them in the planning process. As a result wetlands are not only used but overused, misused and abused. This paper demonstrates the relevance of adopting an integrated approach, comprising wetland modelling based on water-quality parameters, to understand the dynamics of the ecosystem, followed by the estimation of economic benefits among various stakeholders and the exploration of incentive-based mechanisms and their role in the alleviation of poverty. These elements of a toolkit for wetland management will help planners and policy makers to make informed decisions for the sustainable management of Bhoj Wetland. Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Guest editor M.C. Acreman Citation Verma, M. and Negandhi, D., 2011. Valuing ecosystem services of wetlands—a tool for effective policy formulation and poverty alleviation. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 56 (8), 1622–1639.