Bringing Together Science and Policy to Protect and Enhance Wetland Ecosystem Services in Agricultural Landscapes.

Thursday 22 September 2011

To view the Symposium programme, please click here.

Wetland ecosystems operate at the cusp of hydrological and ecological functioning of agricultural landscapes. They provide a critical suite of ecosystem services to regulate and stabilize stream flow, intercept and attenuate diffuse pollutants, enhance biodiversity and nutrient cycling, sequester carbon, and provide aesthetic, spiritual, and recreational benefits for human culture. However, agricultural development has led to the drainage, degradation and loss of many wetlands that were once part of agricultural landscapes across the globe. Land pressures from human populations and the need to increase food production make it difficult to implement policies that restore wetland ecosystems. Yet, wetlands have the potential to provide critical services that directly provide security and livelihood for societies, such as mitigation of flooding and eutrophication of lakes and coastal waters that provide important recreational and fishery resources. Therefore it is critical to bring together science and policy to ensure that the ecosystem services provided by wetlands are properly recognized and appropriate efforts made to create, protect, and restore wetlands as integral components of sustainable agricultural landscapes.

This symposium will contribute to the sustainable management of agricultural landscapes by evaluating scientific understanding of ecosystem services accruing from wetlands in agricultural landscapes, and identifying policy approaches that support or deter appropriate wetland creation, restoration and protection. Sponsorship by the OECD Co-operative Research Programme has enabled a team of renowned experts from around the world to contribute to this Symposium: They include:

• Prof. Edward Maltby, University of Liverpool, UK
• Dr Luke Brander, Netherlands
• Dr Bruna Gumiero, Bologna University, Italy
• Dr Peter Groffman, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, USA
• Dr Richard Lowrance, USDA-ARS, USA
• Dr George Lukacs, James Cook University, Australia
• Ms Shona Myers, Wildland Consultants, New Zealand
• Dr Yosihiro Natuhara, Nagoya University, Japan
• Dr John Strand, Sweden
• Dr Chris Tanner, NIWA, New Zealand
• Dr Mark Tomer, USDA-ARS, USA
• Dr Julien Tournebize, France
• Prof. Jos Verhoeven, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Two extended discussion sessions will enable all participants to contribute, with the outcomes and presented papers assembled as a Special Edition of the scientific journal Ecological Engineering.