ABSTRACT
Agriculture is vital for economic growth and food security, but also has an impact on ecosystem services and benefits that can be lost when wetlands are converted to farming land. Similar to carbon, wetlands can store large amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in soil, sediment and biomass and release them when disturbed. Wetland restoration activities should be planned in such a way that further degradation is prevented, re-establishing the wetland integrity in structure, composition, hydrological, physicochemical and biological processes, and making the ecological functions healthy and resilient. Wastes are discharged downstream into wetlands and combined with nutrient pollutants from diffuse sources such as fertilized farms and urban areas. Sediments from fishponds and rice farms can be trapped in a natural wetland that provides enhanced sediment retention capacity through the low flow velocity, the presence of sediment settling plain, and the dense vegetation and litter. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
