Literature Review of the Economic Value of Ecosystem Services that Wetlands Provide

About the document

As a Contracting Party to the Ramsar Convention, Australia is required to promote the conservation of Ramsar wetlands and the wise use of all wetlands. According to the Ramsar Convention's Strategic Plan 2009-2015, a key factor that is driving continued change, deterioration and loss of wetlands and their services, is the lack of a good understanding of the economic value of wetlands and their ecosystem services (wetland valuation) to underpin sound decision-making and trade-offs.

This report outlines the various valuation techniques that could potentially be used for valuing ecosystem services. It also identifies a number of knowledge gaps and deficiencies in the methodology of the current valuation techniques that are available.