Managing Wetlands: An Ecological Economics Approach

The extensive destruction of wetlands across Europe represents a significant loss of biodiversity along with its related economic, cultural, ethical and scientific benefits. This volume addresses the critical issues surrounding this environmental change process, employing a range of analytical methods drawn from a variety of disciplines which bridge the social and natural science divide. The authors begin by exploring the various methodological approaches to the analysis of the causes and consequences of wetland loss in Europe. The findings reveal that a formal decision-support process can be defined which can assist in the search for a more sustainable approach to wetland management. The methods and tools advocated are interdisciplinary and require co-ordinated action by experts from a variety of different fields. The authors move on to present a series of case studies from which a number of general conclusions can be drawn. In particular, they identify conflicts concerning use, value and interest groups to be the most common in the context of wetland management versus development. Consequently, they argue that scientific analysis requires support from the social sciences in order to better understand and implement more participatory approaches to environmental management. Given the ongoing depletion of wetland ecosystems throughout the world, this novel interdisciplinary approach to their sustainable management is a timely and valuable exercise. Students, researchers and scholars of environmental economics, environmental science, ecology, geography and environmental politics will find this book to be a useful addition to the literature. It will also help policymakers, international agencies and NGOs to preserve these valuable environmental resources.

Table of Contents:
Contents: 1. Introduction Part I: Methodological Issues and Wetland Ecosystem Management 2. Integrated Assessment as a Decision Support Tool 3. Environmental Indicators and Sustainable Wetland Management 4. The Economics of Wetland Management 5. A Meta-Analysis of Wetland Ecosystem Valuation Studies 6. Social and Deliberative Approaches to Support Wetland Management Part II: Case Studies of Ecological–Economic Approaches to Wetland Ecosystem Management 7. Environmental and Economic Assessment of the Location of Wetland Buffers in the Landscape for Nutrient Removal from Agricultural Runoff 8. Ecological and Socio-Economic Evaluation of Wetland Conservation Scenarios 9. Wetland Creation: Socio-Economic and Institutional Conditions for Collective Action 10. Management of a Multi-Purpose, Open Access Wetland: The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, UK 11. Spatial Hydro-Ecological and Economic Modelling of Land Use Changes in Wetlands 12. Conclusions Index

About the Author :
Edited by R. Kerry Turner, Professor of Environmental Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences and Director, Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment (CSERGE) and the Programme in Environmental Decision Making (PEDM), University of East Anglia, UK, Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, ICREA Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain and Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Roy Brouwer, Executive Director Water Institute, Department of Economics, University of Waterloo, Canada

Review :
'This book makes a welcome, and very practical, addition to the existing literature on wetland management, and economic aspects of wetlands. It provides a useful and easily comprehensible overview of the ecological economic approach, how to apply it in the context of wetland and water management, and how to use its findings to support decision-making and influence policy across a wide range of wetland management situations and issues. Although containing a level of methodological and theoretical rigour, which will clearly appeal to an academic audience, both the clarity with which the book expresses quite complex tools and methods and its firm grounding in political and social reality mean that it has wide relevance and utility to the practitioners, managers and policymakers from a range of disciplines who are engaged in wetland management and decision-making.'