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National-Level Wetland Policy Specificity and Goals Vary According to Political and Economic Indicators

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Abstract

Growing recognition of the importance of wetlands to human and ecosystem well-being has led countries worldwide to implement wetland protection policies. Different countries have taken different approaches to wetland protection by implementing various policies, including territorial exclusion, market-based offsetting, and incentive programs for land users. Our objective was to describe the relationship between components of national-level wetland protection policies and national characteristics, including natural resource, economic, social, and political factors. We compiled data on the wetland policies of all 193 countries recognized by the U.N. and described the relationships among wetland policy goals and wetland protection mechanisms using non-metric multidimensional scaling. The first non-metric multidimensional scaling axis strongly correlated with whether a country had a wetland-specific environmental policy in place. Adoption of a comprehensive, wetland-specific policy was positively associated with degree of democracy and a commitment to establishing protected areas. The second non-metric multidimensional scaling axis defined a continuum of policy goals and mechanisms by which wetlands are protected, with goals to protect wetland ecosystem services on one end of the spectrum and goals to protect biodiversity on the other. Goals for protecting ecosystem services were frequently cited in policy documents of countries with agriculture-based economies, whereas goals associated with wetland biodiversity tended to be associated with tourism-based economies. We argue that the components of a country’s wetland policies reflect national-level resource and economic characteristics. Understanding the relationship between the type of wetland policy countries adopt and national-level characteristics is critical for international efforts to protect wetlands.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the additional members of our Wetland Ecology and Management course at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for help collecting source data and contributing to the discussions that led to this paper: L. Nagel, R. Kayser, A. Keigher, and S. Syal. They also thank three anonymous reviewers for their careful review of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Alex W. Peimer

  2. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Adrianna E. Krzywicka, Kyle Van den Bosch, Valerie L. Buxton, Natalie A. Stevenson & Jeffrey W. Matthews

  3. Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Dora B. Cohen

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  1. Alex W. Peimer
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Correspondence to Jeffrey W. Matthews.

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Peimer, A.W., Krzywicka, A.E., Cohen, D.B. et al. National-Level Wetland Policy Specificity and Goals Vary According to Political and Economic Indicators. Environmental Management 59, 141–153 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-016-0766-3

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