Monitoring and Assessment

A variety of different tools are needed to manage wetlands.

In some cases, wetlands may need to be prioritised for conservation purposes, while in other circumstances the condition of wetlands may require monitoring to pick up trends and adjust management strategies accordingly.

Landholders may be interested in managing their wetlands for sustainable development or to conduct rehabilitation works.

This section of WetlandInfo provides information to support assessment, management, rehabilitation and monitoring. It provides case studies to learn from other wetland managers and gives access to wetland assessment tools and guidelines.

What is the difference between wetland assessment and other activities such as inventory and monitoring?

Wetland inventory records data pertaining to a particular set of wetland assets. This can be thought of as a storehouse of standardised information on wetlands in a management area. Inventory data may be generated from available data sources (tenure, climate, population, land use etc) or collected through surveys (flora, fauna, water quality etc) involving the use of equipment and specialised field techniques.

Wetland assessment uses data from wetland inventory activities to derive assessment outputs. It is important to recognise that assessment requires the manipulation of data and uses specialised methodologies and techniques. Assessment involves some sort of judgement, comparison or prediction. This information is often used to recommend priorities for wetland management or investment.

Wetland monitoring involves measurement over time of specific wetland features known to indicate changes in wetland extent, condition, threatening processes or management activities. Any monitoring program must also consider the spatial and scale components. Data on these indicators are collected to reveal change and trends.