Detecting, measuring and reversing changes to wetlands

Abstract

Wetlands around the globe have beenaltered, degraded or lost through a widerange of human activities. A variety ofconservation action have been undertaken inresponse to these changes, and much of thiswork aims to ensure: (a) the wise andsustainable use of wetland resources, (b)the maintenance of ecological character atwetland sites, and (c) that there is`no-net-loss' of wetlands at local,national and international scales. Theseaims have a number of underlyingassumptions about information available tounderpin associated conservation action.This paper reviews a number of theseassumptions and the associated researchneeds.