26 Wetland Futures Report 2013: The Value of Healthy Wetlands
Conclusions, challenges and the future
Dr. Debbie Pain, Director of Conservation, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
•
We’ve been fighting a losing battle to conserve
our wetlands and the many ecosystem services,
or benefits, they deliver. Wetland conservation has
depended more upon power struggles between
sectoral interests than natural processes – and all
sectors of society have lost out as a result of wetland
loss and degradation. This needs to change if
wetlands are to be managed in a sustainable way
for people and wildlife in the future. We, collectively,
need to do much better.
•
The talks during the conference have shown
that to achieve this we need to better make and
communicate the connections between the benefits
and values of water and wetlands and people’s daily
lives and businesses. We need to think innovatively
about how to do this.
This will involve thinking outside the box – but also
possibly reshaping the box or rules that have shaped our
engagement so far.
What might improve making and
communicating these connections
involve?
•
Making wetland values visible, both economic and
non-monetary values.
•
Highlighting to different stakeholders not just the
potential damage that certain actions can have on
the benefits wetlands deliver, but also the business
and livelihood risks associated with not taking them
into account.
•
Demonstrating effective action on the ground at a
range of scales – action and delivery.
•
Taking wetlands to people, especially in urban areas,
and illustrating their relevance to people’s lives.
•
Working in partnership – both within and across
sectors.
•
Finding a way of engaging with politicians from all
political parties.
•
Thinking and acting big – at a catchment and
landscape scale - and again some good examples
and ideas were presented at the conference.
•
It was mentioned during the conference that with
large scale projects there are nearly always some
stakeholders that are unhappy – you can’t make
an omelette without breaking eggs. However we’ve
heard good examples of how with the right amount
of engagement and good communications you can
sometimes stick the eggshells back together again.
A good example is WWT’s London Wetland
Centre (LWC) – involved the creation of new
homes, a stunning nature reserve and visitor
centre from Victorian concrete reservoirs in the
centre of London. Together, Berkeley Homes,
WWT and Thames Water managed a project
that has benefitted wildlife and people – a
win-win situation. There was local opposition
to this initially, but by engaging with the local
communities, listening to their concerns and
keeping them involved, many are now volunteers
and strong advocates of the LWC – and of
course property prices have increased.
A participant mentioned that conferences like this
can sometimes preach to the converted, but they can
be about a lot more than that. They are really good
opportunities for learning, taking stock and stimulating
new ideas and partnerships.
Challenges and the future
We hope you agree with us that the conference was a big
success and we were delighted to see the commitment
from so many to conserve Britain’s wetlands. There were
many interesting case-studies, discussions and questions,
particularly around communication and working with other
sectors and we hope that you took away with you new
knowledge and new ideas. The conference highlighted
the many ecosystem benefits that healthy wetlands
provide and how important they are for many reasons
both economically and socially as well as environmentally
and it is this understanding which needs to be more
widespread in order for better and more informed
decisions to be made. We have developed a number
of challenges to steer us progressively forward over the
coming year towards a better valuing of the benefits of
healthy wetlands.
(1)
To create a ‘safe space’ for ecologists,
conservationists, planners, developers, farmers,
etc., to work together using a ‘common language’
to identify progressive ways forward for wetland
conservation.
What we will do:
Dependent on funding and internal approval, we
hope to organise a number of sponsored, targeted
workshops to engage with other sectors in a more
intimate space.
