Abstract
This paper summarises key issues from papers included in a special issue about the impacts of climate change on Australian wetlands. The papers covered: the assessment of wetlands under climate change, adaptation and engineering responses to climate change, and restoring wetlands under a changing climate. The key issues from these papers were used to indicate areas where the Ramsar Convention could develop guidance as part of its’ Handbooks for the Wise Use of Wetlands. These included: (i) assessing changes in the distribution of species and whether these constitute a change in the ecological character of the wetland; (ii) assessing the usefulness of models of wetland response to climate change; (iii) assessing the value in allocating water to protected sites where restoration would be contingent on reallocation of larger volumes of water; (iv) assessing the efficacy of engineering responses with the potential to deliver more water-efficient environmental outcomes for wetlands and (v) determining if the description of the ecological character of a Ramsar site at the time of listing is a suitable reference for management purposes. With these issues in mind it is recommended that further attention is directed towards determining and responding to the ecological consequences of climate change.
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Acknowledgments
The genesis of this special issue came from the participation of some authors in the Wetland Ecosystems session held during the 3rd International Conference on Challenges in Environmental Science and Engineering, 26th September–1st October 2010, Cairns, Australia. The session coordinator, Mr. George Lukacs, is thanked for arranging support for speakers in this session.
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Guest editor: C. Max Finlayson / Wetlands and climate change: ecological outcomes and adaptation as shown by Australian case studies
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Finlayson, C.M. Climate change and the wise use of wetlands: information from Australian wetlands. Hydrobiologia 708, 145–152 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1474-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-013-1474-0