On June 22-25, 2011, the wetland restoration workshop hosted by Professor Cui Lijuan, of the Institue of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, was held in Beijing, China. Professor Cui, who is an STRP invoted expert, and her colleagues, Wen Xianji (World Wide Fund for Nature, Hong Kong), Zhou Demin (Capital Normal University), Wu Guofeng (Wuhan University), Liu Maosong (Nanjing University), Qin Pei (Nanjing University) and Jiang Ming (Chinese Academy of Sciences) made presentations that addressed a wide range of restoration topics and experiences from a Chinese perspective. More than a dozen of Professor Cui’s students also attended and contributed to the sessions. They are making significant contributions to the future of wetland restoration and management practice and research in China.

The presentations and exercises helped inform the STRP’s current work of determining if the current Ramsar restoration guidance adopted at Ramsar COP8 in 2002 needs updating and/or expanding, by identifying potential target audiences and ascertaining how useful the current guidance may be for tehm. Case studies in China, North America, Europe and Australia were discussed during the workshop. The workshop included visits to several wetland restoration sites around the Beijing area and the Beijing Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Centre and the Institute of Wetland Research which hosts China’s Wetland Ecology Research Network program at 17 research stations located throughout the country.

Each of the STRP workshops on wetland restoration has provided keen insight into the needs of the target audiences of the guidance, often with similar comments and recommendations from the attendees. The following general wetland restoration issues have emerged:

• Need for a clearer policy statement on wetland restoration and its value and application across government sectors.
• Need for detailed technical guidance for practitioners across the full wetland restoration process, including locally relevant examples of restoration.
• Need to set clear objectives for restoration.
• Importance of demonstration sites as outdoor laboratories, raising awareness and showcasing to policy-makers.
• Importance of translation of guidance into local or regional languages.
• Need for future workshops and information exchange with policy makers, practitioners and researchers.

We warmly thank Professor Cui, her assistants Zhang Manyin and Song Hongtao, and our esteemed colleagues and new friends in China for hosting a very productive workshop. Their leadership in wetland restoration in China is impressive and we look forward to our future collaborations.

Kevin L. Erwin, STRP member klerwin@environment.com or kerwin@fgcu.edu

More on the STRP here

Workshop Images

The WRSG is a global network of wetland restoration specialists (both scientists and non-scientists) concerned with the conservation, study, design, construction, monitoring, and management of restored wetlands worldwide. The WRSG’s role is to actively promote the successful restoration and conservation of wetlands worldwide by developing networks and by encouraging information exchange and cooperation amongst these specialists, along with other relevant organizations, particularly Wetlands International, the Ramsar Convention, Society of Ecological Restoration, IUCN, Society of Wetland Scientists and many others.

Membership

WRSG membership is open without charge to wetland restoration specialists worldwide. Members include experts in wetland ecology, ecological engineering, hydrology and water management over a wide range of wetland types and scale from small urban wetlands to expansive catchments covering thousands of square kilometers.

Members are encouraged to participate in WRSG activities, including the development of the Group by inviting other specialists to join and participate. The information posted on the site will be provided by members of the WRSG. I expect that over time we will organize members by geographical regions and thematic areas as well. This will lead to networks within the Group keeping each other informed of relevant activities and most importantly sharing information so that we can collectively promote successful restoration and the ethical conservation of the world’s wetland resources.

Join the Wetland Restoration Specialist Group

If you wish to join contact me with your name, address, contact details, and areas of special interest (species and geographic regions).

Additional pages linked to the WRSG web page include the following Group activities;

• Data base of wetland restoration specialists – contact information organized by wetland type
• Wetland restoration guidance documents
• Key publications – a compilation of technical and journal citations with links to pdf copies
• Case studies – selected restoration projects organized by wetland type and global region
• Calendar of events – pertinent meetings and workshops

UNEP publication released in conjunction with World Environment Day 2010.

Edited by Christian Nellemann and Emily Corcoran and distributed as part of the UNEP World Environment Day on June 5, this report confirms that restoration is not only possible but can prove highly profitable in terms of public savings; returns and the broad objectives of overcoming poverty and achieving sustainability. It also provides important recommendations on how to avoid pitfalls and how to minimize risks to ensure successful restoration. The book is part of UNEP’s evolving work on the challenges but also the inordinate opportunities from a transition to a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy.

We would like to acknowledge our clients Mariner Properties Development, Inc. and Gulfstream Natural Gas System, LLC for having their projects, Little Pine Island Regional Mitigation Bank and Lake Wales Forest Mitigation and Net Ecosystem Benefits respectively, chosen as part of the 36 world wide case studies included in the book.

The following is the preface to the UNEP publication Dead Planet, Living Planet: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration for Sustainable Development [Christian Nelleman (Editor in chief) and Emily Corcoran](2010).

Biodiversity and ecosystems deliver crucial services to humankind – from food security to keeping our waters clean, buffering against extreme weather, providing medicines to recreation and adding to the foundation of human culture. Together these services have been estimated to be worth over 21–72 trillion USD every year – comparable to the World Gross National Income of 58 trillion USD in 2008.
(by Achim Steiner UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director)

The loss of ecosystems and the biodiversity underpinning them is a challenge to us all. But a particular challenge for the world’s poor and thus for the attainment of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

Wetlands provide services of near USD 7 trillion every year. Forested wetlands treat more wastewater per unit of energy and have up to 22 fold higher cost-beneft ratios than traditional sand fltration in treatment plants. Many of the world’s key crops such as coffee, tea and mangoes are dependent on the pollination and pest control services of birds and insects. By some estimates projected loss of ecosystem services could lead to up to 25 % loss in the world’s food production by 2050 increasing the risks of hunger. The loss of mangroves, wetlands and forests increases vulnerability and is a contributory factor as to why as many as 270 million people annually are being affected by natural disasters. Ecosystems, such as sea-grasses; tidal marshes and tropical forests, are also important in removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere: their steady decline may accelerate climate change and aggravate further countries and communities’ vulnerability to its impacts.

It is high time that governments systematically factored not only ecosystem management but also restoration into national and regional development plans.

This report is a contribution to the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity and is a complement to the UNEP-hosted Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) which is bringing visibility to the wealth of the world’s natural capital. It documents over 30 successful case studies referencing thousands of restoration projects ranging from deserts and rainforests to rivers and coasts. The report confrms that restoration is not only possible but can prove highly proftable in terms of public savings; returns and the broad objectives of overcoming poverty and achieving sustainability. It also provides important recommendations on how to avoid pitfalls and how to minimize risks to ensure successful restoration.

Dead planet, living planet: Biodiversity and ecosystem restoration for sustainable development is part of UNEP’s evolving work on the challenges but also the inordinate opportunities from a transition to a low carbon, resource effcient Green Economy.

The ability of six billion people, rising to over nine billion by 2050, to thrive let alone survive over the coming decades will in part depend on investments in renewable energies to effcient mobility choices such as high speed rail and bus rapid transport systems. But as this report makes clear, it will equally depend on maintaining; enhancing and investing in restoring ecological infrastructure and expanding rather than squandering the planet’s natural capital.