Wetland Values

Wetland values simply refer to the values or important aspects of a wetland. These values include any aspect of wetland ecology health and economics, as well as encompassing public amenities and safety. Wetland environmental values are the physical and biological characteristics of the wetland and the ecological, social and economic aspects are benefits provided by them.

The wetland processes are considered as the default values that should be protected in any wetland, as they are necessary for the other values of the wetland to be maintained (hydrological processes, food webs, physical habitats, nutrient cycling, sediment trapping and stabilisation).

A full suite of wetland values has been developed and can be used as the starting point for identifying the environmental values of a specific wetland. This table incorporates the values in the Millennium Report: Ecosystems and Human Well Being: Wetlands and Water and the Water Environmental Protection Policy.

Some wetlands may contain a suite of distinct wetland habitats (for example, a coastal estuary might contain coral and rocky reef, seagrass, mangroves and saltmarsh), and there might be a variety of different values or functions that make up the wetland.

There are usually significant variations in management and buffer requirements required to protect each of the wetland habitats and values.

Last updated: 13 November 2007