Could wetlands provide multiple benefits for the environment and for water quality and what is needed to realise these benefits?
There is rising concern about the need to protect water quality at source, rather than relying on heavy inputs of energy and chemicals downstream for cleaning up abstracted supplies. This, together with a greater emphasis on the value of “natural capital”, calls for more systemic management of land and water, including natural solutions involving wetlands at the land/water interface. Water companies, regulators and landowners are all showing increasing interest in exploring the opportunities offered by natural and created wetlands to deliver benefits using Payment for Ecosystem Services and other novel solutions.
Living with Environmental Change’s (LWEC) policy and practice note on the topic is now available online at:
http://www.lwec.org.uk/sites/default/files/attachments_biblio/LWEC_P%26_Note_15_WEB_0.pdf
