Protecting wetlands for people: Strategic policy action can help wetlands mitigate risks and enhance resilience

Endter-Wada, Joanna; Kettenring, Karin M.; Sutton-Grier, Ariana

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.01.016

i

Protecting wetlands for people: Strategic policy action can help wetlands mitigate risks and enhance resilience

2020
By Endter-Wada, Joanna ; Kettenring, Karin M. ; Sutton-Grier, Ariana

Details

Journal Title:

Environmental Science & Policy
Personal Author:

Endter-Wada, Joanna ; Kettenring, Karin M. ; Sutton-Grier, Ariana
NOAA Program & Office:

NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service)
Description:

We elevate the undervalued role of wetland protective services for mitigating disastrous consequences of unprecedented weather-related events for human communities. Scientific evidence increasingly reveals that wetlands play critical hydrologic roles in landscapes, helping to mitigate flood, drought, and, in some cases, fire risks. However, wetland protective services have not received sufficient policy action. We propose national wetland commissions, modeled after the concept of lake and river commissions, as one way to strategically link wetland protection to other societal objectives, including human disaster risk planning, infrastructure investments, and climate adaptation strategies. We offer an example applicable to the United States, describing an institutional design for a National Interagency Wetland Commission. We suggest it could be patterned after existing federal commissions statutorily created by Congress with delegated administrative and regulatory authority and designated independent agency status within the executive branch. It is time for bold and innovative policy action to incorporate wetland protective services into societies’ defenses against extreme weather events.
Keywords:

Geography, Planning And Development Management, Monitoring, Policy And Law Geography, Planning And Development Management, Monitoring, Policy And Law Geography, Planning And Development Management, Monitoring, Policy And Law
Source:

Environmental Science & Policy, 108, 37-44
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.01.016
ISSN:

1462-9011
Format:

PDF
Publisher:

Elsevier BV
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA14NES4320003
Rights Information:

Accepted Manuscript
Compliance:

Library
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha256:2aa8d0d4f8d1253e27c54545f1c9c574983a67eb25a89341bdf108fc67953943
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/57592/noaa_57592_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 594.77 KB ]

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