Description
Ramsar Wetlands: Values, Assessment, Management addresses the approaches, successes and limitations of the Ramsar Convention in a changing world, how recent approaches to wetland monitoring and management can contribute to improving wetland state, what the future holds for wetlands and their wise use, and what the Ramsar Convention needs to do to achieve future successes. The book presents a unique outlook on a range of issues, addressing considerable advances in our understanding of wetlands, their great environmental, social, cultural and economic importance, their role in maintaining the global water-cycle, and in mitigating and adapting to changing climates.No other book has yet taken this broad look at the past, present and future of wetlands and the Ramsar Convention. From aquatic ecologists, environmental scientists and engineers, to water resource managers, conservation agencies, and land management planners, this comprehensive guide is a beneficial tool in understanding wetlands.- Answers questions on the responsibilities and roles of signatory nations to the Ramsar Convention, including how it may deal with ongoing and emerging causes of wetland change- Addresses ongoing challenges of reporting and managing wetland change- Provides a multidisciplinary approach and details the wise use principle that underpins the convention
Table of Contents
1 Introduction - to the book and the Ramsar Convention2 Ramsar Governance and Processes at the International Level3 Ramsar at the national level: application and incorporation into domestic law4 The extent and distribution of the world's wetlands5 The Distribution of the World's Internationally Important Wetlands and their Contribution to Global Protected Area Goals and Aichi Biodiversity Target 116 Linking Wetland Ecological Processes with the Delivery of Ecosystem Services7 Ecosystem Services8 The response of Wetlands to Long-Term Climate Change9 What's Happening to the World's Wetlands10 Cultural Landscapes: Human Impacts on Wetlands11 Threats to wetlands: what's driving loss and degradation?12 Wetland Monitoring: understanding variability and change in ecological condition13 Trajectories in wetland condition: Setting Limits of Acceptable Change14 Management effectiveness of wetland protected areas15 Investing in Wetland Restoration: Practical Guidance and Looking Ahead16 Human Culture and its evolving place in the Ramsar convention17 International governance of water for biodiversity conservation18 Climate Change and wetlands - vulnerability, adaptation, mitigation, resolutions andscientific societies19 Wetlands as social ecological systems: Bridging nature and society20 Wetlands and Future Change - Implications and Opportunities for the Ramsar Convention
