ABSTRACT
While many indigenous people and rural populations still depend on local wetlands and waters for their livelihood (e.g., Schuyt 2005), most if not all nations now recognize wetlands as one of the world’s most valuable natural resources. Besides their intrinsic value to specially adapted plants and animals, wetlands produce a wealth of environmental services that directly benet human societies (Table 1.1). Given this recognition, there has been increasing attention given to wetland conservation around the globe (e.g., Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Wetlands have been acquired as nature preserves, sanctuaries, and wildlife management areas or identied as globally important for water birds or vital for storing carbon to help ameliorate the effect of human-induced greenhouse gases on atmospheric temperature. Wetland restoration has become a subject for scientic investigation as well as for commercial enterprise. Some governments have enacted laws and/or policies to protect wetlands or regulate conversion of these valued resources and initiated wetland inventories to aid wetland management and conservation. Since this book focuses on advances in remote sensing technology to perform such inventories, a brief overview of wetlands seems warranted. This chapter is intended to provide that introduction and includes a list of references for readers to gain a more complete understanding of wetlands.
