39 articles
A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia
A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DIWA) is the Australian national inventory of nationally important wetlands, first published 1993 with editions in 1996 and 2001; inclusion requires meeting at least one of six ANZECC 1994 criteria, and the online Directory now holds over 900 sites.
Australian state and territory wetland policy
Australian state and territory wetland policy is the set of state and territory laws and strategies protecting Australia's wetlands, since land and water management rests with the jurisdictions.
Blue carbon
Blue carbon is carbon captured and stored by ocean and coastal ecosystems, chiefly salt marshes, mangroves, and seagrass meadows, whose anaerobic soils sequester carbon up to ten times faster than tropical forests and support carbon markets.
Constructed wetland
Constructed wetland (artificial wetland, treatment wetland): an engineered wastewater treatment system using wetland plants, soils, and microbes. Shallow FWS or subsurface-flow beds remove BOD, nutrients, and metals at low energy and cost versus activated sludge.
Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment
Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment are engineered wetland systems that treat wastewater, with subsurface flow beds for secondary treatment and free-water surface wetlands for tertiary treatment.
Cowardin classification system
The Cowardin classification system is the 1979 US Fish and Wildlife Service scheme for classifying American wetlands and deepwater habitats, now the basis of the National Wetlands Inventory.
Eastern Habitat Joint Venture
Eastern Habitat Joint Venture (EHJV), Plan conjoint des habitats de l'Est, is a Canadian waterfowl habitat partnership founded in 1989 under NAWMP, covering Ontario through Newfoundland and Labrador, 315 million hectares, 30% of Canada's wetlands.
Emergency Wetlands Resources Act
Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99-645 (16 U.S.C. ch. 59), a US wetland conservation law: defines wetlands by hydric soils, hydrophytic vegetation and hydrology, opens Land and Water Conservation Fund money for wetland acquisition, and creates the National Wetlands Priority Conservation Plan.
Floating treatment wetland
A floating treatment wetland is a buoyant, vegetated system in which plants on a floating frame remove nutrients and pollutants from ponds, lakes, and reservoirs.
Greenhouse gas emissions from wetlands
Greenhouse gas emissions from wetlands: methane, CO2, and N2O fluxes from waterlogged soils. Wetlands emit ~159 Tg CH4/yr, the largest natural methane source, controlled by water table, temperature, and substrates.
Hydrogeomorphic approach to wetland classification and assessment
The hydrogeomorphic (HGM) approach is a US method for classifying wetlands and scoring their ecological functions, developed by the Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1990s.
Kissimmee River
Kissimmee River, central Florida river flowing to Lake Okeechobee; channelized 1962-1971 into the C-38 canal, then restored 1999-2021 by backfilling 22 miles of canal and reconnecting 44 miles of historic channel.
La Tembladera
La Tembladera, a 200-hectare Ramsar wetland lagoon in Santa Rosa canton, El Oro, Ecuador, fed by the Arenillas river; also a Peruvian district center, a Veracruz railway station, and a Spanish word for trembling.
Mitigation banking
Mitigation banking, also called wetland mitigation banking, restores or creates wetlands in advance so credits can be sold to offset permitted impacts under the Clean Water Act.
National wetland policy in Africa, Latin America, the Pacific and the Middle East
National wetland policy in Africa, Latin America, the Pacific, and the Middle East covers the country-level laws, programs, and institutions governing wetlands outside regions with the most developed statutes.
National wetland policy in Asia
National wetland policy in Asia is the set of laws and rules by which Asian countries protect and manage their wetlands, with China's first comprehensive statute effective June 2022.
National wetland policy: comparative structures and inventory programs
A national wetland policy is the set of laws, permits, and inventory programs by which a country protects, regulates, and maps its wetlands, using models that differ widely.
National Wetlands Inventory
National Wetlands Inventory (NWI), a 1974 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program, maps U.S. wetlands and deepwater habitats using the Cowardin classification, publishes the Wetlands Mapper and Status and Trends reports, and is not a jurisdictional wetland determination.
No net loss wetlands policy
No net loss of wetlands is a US policy goal requiring permitted wetland losses to be offset by restoration or creation, adopted by President George H. W. Bush in 1988.
North American Waterfowl Management Plan
The North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) is a 1986 Canada–U.S. treaty-style agreement, joined by Mexico in 1994, restoring waterfowl to 1970s levels via wetland habitat conservation delivered through 22 habitat and 3 species joint ventures.
Paludiculture
Paludiculture is productive farming or forestry on wet or rewetted peatlands that keeps water tables high to preserve peat. Also called wet agriculture; crops include reed, cattail, Sphagnum, sago; cuts GHG emissions versus drained peatland farming.
Peat swamp forest
Peat swamp forest: tropical forest on waterlogged peat, best developed in Southeast Asia (Borneo, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia). Stores ~105 GtC in tropical peat; drained and burned for oil palm and acacia plantations, emitting ~692 Tg CO2e yearly; restored by canal blocking.
Peatland
Peatland: waterlogged wetland ecosystem (bogs, fens, mires, swamps) with surface peat from partly decomposed plants; covers ~3% of land, stores ~20% of soil carbon (238–612 Gt C), and emits ~5% of GHGs when drained.
Peatland drainage impact
Peatland drainage impact covers the environmental consequences of draining peatlands: drained peat becomes a carbon source, causing emissions, subsidence of 1 to 8 meters, and water degradation.
Peatland restoration
Peatland restoration is the practice of returning drained or degraded peatlands to health, mainly by rewetting them so they again store carbon, support peat-forming vegetation, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Ramsar Convention
Ramsar Convention (Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat): 1971 treaty for wetland conservation and wise use, in force 1975, UNESCO depositary, Ramsar List sites, nine criteria, COP15 2025 Victoria Falls.
Se7en Wetlands
Se7en Wetlands is a 1,640-acre constructed treatment wetland in Lakeland, Florida, providing tertiary wastewater treatment since 1987 on former phosphate mine land, opened as a public park in 2018 with trails, wildlife, and an education center project.
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI): UK designation for land of special flora, fauna, or geological interest, notified by Natural England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981; 4,127 English sites covering 1,088,000 hectares, with condition targets to 2042.
Society of Wetland Scientists
Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS), international professional society founded 1980 by Richard Macomber; 3,000+ members in 60+ countries; publishes Wetlands journal and Wetland Science & Practice; administers PWS certification.
State, tribal and local wetland regulation in the United States
State, tribal, and local wetland regulation in the United States is the state, tribal, and local laws protecting wetlands outside federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction.