Wetlands

Applying an ecosystem-based approach to water and land interfaces

CURRENT STATUS

Wetlands are key providers of water and essential services to life. Hotspots of biodiversity, they are also one of the fastest declining ecosystems worldwide. The threats against them continue to mount. An increase in the conversion of natural areas to urban and agricultural areas, infrastructure development, water diversion and pollution of air and water are some of the main factors causing their degradation and loss.

Classification of wetland habitats, information on their location, their ecological character and the services they give people, such as water sources, sources of food, storage of carbon and buffering or mitigating disaster risks, is often sparse and difficult to find or access. Despite some local restoration efforts in the last decades, tangible improvements in their condition and in the re-establishment of their ecological functions are far from being met.  The result is a limited coverage of wetlands in policies and management practices.

OUR ACTIONS

We aim to enhance the knowledge on wetlands by highlighting their hydro-ecological features as a complex ecosystem and so ensure the inclusion of transitional habitats in regional management and monitoring practices. Through the promotion of wetlands as wider ecosystems in long-term mechanisms and governance models, our work aims at ensuring effective conservation and adaptive monitoring and restoration programmes that take into account ecosystemic hydro-ecological connections.

Our achievements and targets are

An improved nomenclature of wetland habitats in regional classification systems building on the Ramsar classification of wetlands.

An enhanced delimitation method of wetland ecosystems in Europe and the Mediterranean region through high resolution satellite imagery.

Clear Indicators to better support effective planning and adaptive management for wetland habitats.

A methodology for area-based mapping of wetlands.

Generating scientific evidence to influence policy and legal frameworks towards the full protection and restoration of wetland ecosystems and its components.

Analysis of carbon pools levels and sequestration potential by wetland habitats, how they can be affected by human use, and measures and actions in Europe to restore the capacity of wetlands to sequester carbon.

Featured outputs

Mediterranean wetlands – their current state and ways to improve their conservation

Mediterranean wetlands – their current state and ways to improve their conservation

The recent report entitled “Mapping and assessment of the state of wetland ecosystems: a Mediterranean perspective” led by ETC-UMA, in the frame of the Mediterranean ...
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The role of healthy wetlands in fighting climate change

The role of healthy wetlands in fighting climate change

The new report developed by the ETC-UMA (University of Malaga), as partner of the European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil Systems (ETC/ULS) has ...
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Related projects

Resources

Get in touch

Dania Abdul Malak

Wetland policy related inquiries

daniaabdulmalak@uma.es

Dania Abdul Malak is a senior environmental researcher and Director of the European Topic Centre at the University of Malaga (ETC-UMA). She has over 15 years’ experience in environmental assessment and management...

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Marco Trombetti

Data related inquiries

marco.trombetti@uma.es

Marco graduated in Forestry and Environmental Science in Bari (ITA), holds a MSc in Geoinformation Science from Wageningen University (NL) and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Basilicata (ITA)...

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Celebrating and calibrating Mediterranean forests

Celebrating and calibrating Mediterranean forests

The Mediterranean basin is the third-richest hotspot in the world in terms of plant biodiversity  and one of the greatest sources of endemic plants on Earth. Its plant diversity accounts for 25 000 plant species, 60 percent of which are ...
The European Topic Centre of the University of Malaga (ETC-UMA) is looking for an IVY volunteer!

The European Topic Centre of the University of Malaga (ETC-UMA) is looking for an IVY volunteer!

The volunteer will support the ENI CBC MED project “ENSERES - ENhancing Socio-Ecological RESilience in Mediterranean coastal", under the ENI CBC MED programme. The objective of the ENI CBC MED project “ENSERES" is to mainstream available EBM tools in ICZM processes for preserving coastal and marine ecosystems ...
New year, new project for ETC-UMA

New year, new project for ETC-UMA

The team of the European Topic Centre on Spatial Analysis and Synthesis (ETC-UMA) at the University of Malaga joins its first Horizon Europe project contributing with its expertise on wetland mapping and assessment at European scale showcased during the Kick ...
Supporting cetacean conservation in the Pelagos Sanctuary

Supporting cetacean conservation in the Pelagos Sanctuary

A new report has been presented today, 18 November 2022, online in the frame of the cooperation between the Pelagos Permanent Secretariat and the Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community (MBPC), a project led by ETC-UMA. The new report, entitled Pathways to ...
EFE interview with ETC-UMA Director

EFE interview with ETC-UMA Director

In the frame of the Interreg Mediterranean Biodiversity Protection Community (MBPC) project led by ETC-UMA, the international gathering of partners in Brussels from 2 to 4 November 2022 at the European Committee of the Regions attracted the attention of the ...
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