Abstract
An inventory is internationally recognised as a key tool for informing policy, management and conservation of wetlands. Despite national, state and territory initiatives a comprehensive Australian wetland inventory still does not exist. The primary data requirements for a national wetland inventory are standardised mapping of wetland extent and attribution of typology. Some Australian jurisdictions have ongoing and regularly updated wetland mapping programs that could be consistent with a national inventory framework, whereas others have outdated or scattered information and data. Data requirements for wetland inventories have been reviewed previously, but there have been several recent improvements in technology and available information since those reviews were completed. The focus of this paper is to update previous reviews by outlining the recent opportunities that have emerged, and present a roadmap to support implementation of a jurisdictional wetland inventory program. We applied the process to the Lachlan River catchment in New South Wales, demonstrating the value and relevancy of the roadmap for inventory development. The need for standardised jurisdictional wetland inventories is the first step to their integration into a national wetland inventory. The roadmap and frameworks developed here can guide the development of other programs to overcome impediments and support development of a national wetland inventory. This tool would ultimately support the maintenance, protection and restoration of wetlands at a national level.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge D. Tierney, C. Wilson, L. Wen and G. Hodgins for their technical assistance in the project. We would particularly like to acknowledge anonymous reviewers who provided direction for earlier versions of the manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This project received funding from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
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Ling, J.E., Hughes, M.G., Powell, M. et al. Building a national wetland inventory: a review and roadmap to move forward. Wetlands Ecol Manage 26, 805–827 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-018-9611-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-018-9611-1