article · Ecosystem Services
A global systematic review of 861 papers published between 1968 and 2022 documents cultural ecosystem services delivered by wetlands across 175 countries and territories. Recreation and tourism represent the most commonly reported cultural service at 40 percent of records, comprising 63 distinct leisure activities, followed by cultural identity and heritage at 16 percent, and education at 13 percent. In contrast, sense of place and bequest values each appear in only 4 percent of studies. Economic evaluations indicate an average cultural value of 57,262 pounds per hectare per year, though reported values range widely from under 1 pound to over 1,000,000 pounds. Primary threats cited in nearly half the studies include habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change. Furthermore, only 13 percent of the literature links these cultural services to conservation outcomes, while 10 percent offers explicit management or policy guidance.
Wetlands deliver vital cultural, educational, and recreational benefits alongside critical ecological functions. Quantifying these cultural services and synthesising their economic worth provides planners, funders, and environmental bodies with concrete data to justify the protection, creation, and restoration of wetland habitats facing widespread threats from pollution and physical degradation.
The synthesis provides economic and leisure activity benchmarks that could inform ecotourism development, natural capital accounting, and habitat restoration investments. Potential users include environmental consultants, municipal planning authorities, and tourism developers seeking to evaluate site benefits. As an analytical review of secondary academic literature rather than a field-tested tool or operational method, this evidence base sits at an early research stage relative to direct commercial deployment.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
• We report a global systematic review of wetland Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES), synthesizing 861 papers. • We found published evidence of CES provided by wetlands in 175 countries and territories. • Recreation/tourism was the most frequently reported CES, with 63 different leisure activities identified. • Probabilities that a paper was open access and had ≥ 1 in-country author varied among continents and years. • Synthesis of published economic values yield a mean of £57262 ha −1 yr −1 for the cultural benefits of wetlands. Wetlands make a disproportionately large contribution to global biodiversity and provide critical ecosystem services for humanity. Yet, our understanding of the cultural ecosystem services (CES) provided by wetlands remains limited, with benefits often only recognised at local scales. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a global systematic review of wetland CES. Our synthesis addressed key questions related to the provision of CES by different types of wetlands, their economic value, their co-occurrence and associations with other ecosystem services, threats to the provision of CES by wetlands, as well as the availability and use of CES information. Based on 861 published papers (1968–2022) in 17 languages, we found evidence of CES provided by wetlands in 175 countries and territories, highlighting that wetlands are globally important for the provision of CES. Recreation/tourism was the most frequently reported CES (40 %), with cultural identity/heritage (16 %) and education/learning/knowledge (13 %) also well-represented. In contrast, examples of sense of place (4 %) and bequest (4 %) were least frequent. Our synthesis of published estimates yielded a mean of £57262 ha −1 yr −1 for the cultural benefits of wetlands; however, this mean should be interpreted with caution given that we documented a very wide range of estimates for each CES type of <£1–£1065205 ha −1 yr −1 . Threats to wetland CES were documented in 45 % of papers, and included wetland destruction, pollution, and climate change. The probability that a CES paper would be available open access, and the probability that a published paper featured at least one author affiliated with the country where the study was conducted, both varied significantly among continents and publication years. Conservation outcomes related to CES featured in 13 % of papers, whilst 10 % made policy/management recommendations. Our study highlights the links between wetlands and human culture, emphasising their importance in motivating future wetland creation and restoration.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2024.101673
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
