A global systematic review of the cultural ecosystem services provided by wetlands

Abstract

Wetlands make a disproportionately large contribution to global biodiversity and provide critical ecosystem services for humanity. Yet, our understanding of the cultural ecosystem services (CES) provided by wetlands remains limited, with benefits often only recognised at local scales. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a global systematic review of wetland CES. Our synthesis addressed key questions related to the provision of CES by different types of wetlands, their economic value, their co-occurrence and associations with other ecosystem services, threats to the provision of CES by wetlands, as well as the availability and use of CES information. Based on 861 published papers (1968–2022) in 17 languages, we found evidence of CES provided by wetlands in 175 countries and territories, highlighting that wetlands are globally important for the provision of CES. Recreation/tourism was the most frequently reported CES (40 %), with cultural identity/heritage (16 %) and education/learning/knowledge (13 %) also well-represented. In contrast, examples of sense of place (4 %) and bequest (4 %) were least frequent. Our synthesis of published estimates yielded a mean of £57262 ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for the cultural benefits of wetlands; however, this mean should be interpreted with caution given that we documented a very wide range of estimates for each CES type of <£1–£1065205 ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. Threats to wetland CES were documented in 45 % of papers, and included wetland destruction, pollution, and climate change. The probability that a CES paper would be available open access, and the probability that a published paper featured at least one author affiliated with the country where the study was conducted, both varied significantly among continents and publication years. Conservation outcomes related to CES featured in 13 % of papers, whilst 10 % made policy/management recommendations. Our study highlights the links between wetlands and human culture, emphasising their importance in motivating future wetland creation and restoration.