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WETLANDS/ ECONOMIC VALUE


source:www.panda.org/about_wwf/
what_we_do/freshwater/news/
news.cfm?uNewsID=10965

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economic value

Amenity and recreation, flood control, recreational fishing, and water filtration are the most valued functions of wetlands…

Together with their ecological value, wetlands provide populations with numerous goods and services that have a significant economic value, not only to the local population living in its periphery but also to communities living outside the wetland area.
  • According to the WWF*, using the Ramsar Convention's global wetland area estimate of 12.8 million km˛, the annual global value of goods and services from world freshwater resources could be worth as much as US$70 billion;


  • the provision by wetlands of recreational opportunities and amenities, and flood control and storm buffering are the wetland functions with the highest median economic values at US$492 and US$464/ha per year respectively;


  • Asian wetlands have the highest economic values (at US$1.8 billion/year): 3 times greater than those of North America despite the fact that the total area of Asia’s wetlands analysed in this report* is less than half of North America’s.

* WWF report - The Economic Values of the World’s Wetlands, Gland/Amsterdam, January 2004.

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