Sustainable Wetland Management Using the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as a Guide in the Sierra Leone Case

The Sustainable Wetland Management adopted for this study depicts that, the identification of drivers and impacts is needed first, in other to get a clearer roadmap, after which the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework would come into play to serve as a pathway for Sustainability. The study evaluates how Sierra Leone might implement the Framework’s proposed strategies in National Wetland Management. As a result, the research tried to thoroughly examine the factors that contribute to wetland degradation as well as the effects they have on the people who live nearby. The purposive sampling method was used to administer 385 structured questionnaires to inhabitants. The data was then processed in an Excel spreadsheet. Microsoft Publisher was used to draw the framework and a descriptive analysis was done. Results indicated that;the majority of the inhabitants of Aberdeen Creek are traders/self-employed, furthermore, the majority chose the place because it’s less expensive and nearer to the workplace, settlement expansion and pollution are the two most common degrading activities, while flooding and health-related issues are some of the consequences, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is regarded to be a perfect tool for wetland management. It was concluded that to accomplish the objectives in the framework, it is necessary to have both political and social will. Satellite data and water quality research are further needed to validate the report.

Institution, Legislation and Policy Analysis of China’s Wetland Protection

Wetland protection is a complex issue. In the executive system of wetland preservation, the central government is the main body of policy formulation and implementation. Although China has taken many steps to protect wetlands, there are still some institutional, legal and policy problems in the area of wetland protection. This article presents an analysis of these factors. First, the authors state and analyze the major legal and management problems currently hampering wetland protection in China. Then the authors believe that in the future, new problems of wetland protection will arise. Given the following three major aspects of wetland protection in China： i.e., the policy, law and management systems, this article provides some relevant suggestions in the area of policies and management.

The spatial-temporal dynamic characteristics of the marsh in the Sanjiang Plain

Using the methods of combining landscape ecology with GIS spatial analysis, this paper analyses the dynamics of the marsh landscape structure of the Sanjiang Plain in the past 20 years, furthermore, taking Fujin County, located in the north of the plain, as an example, analyzes the conversion between marsh and other land use types. It is shown that the marsh in the Sanjiang Plain decreased greatly in the past 20 years, but the trend has begun to reverse. The marsh area decreased by 51.33% from 1980 to 1996, whereas it decreased by 4.19% from 1996 to 2000. The fragmentation of the marsh increased; the number of the patches increased by 326 from 1986 to 1996, whereas it only increased by 18 patches from 1996 to 2000. It is obvious that the speed of patches number diminished and the marsh fragmentation decreased, which shows that the reclamation of the marsh converted from the fragmentation to the brim in a large area of the marsh. The reclaimed marsh has mainly converted to paddy field and dry land. Large-scale reclamation in the Sanjiang Plain influences its natural environment directly: the climate of the region turns from cold and wet to warm and dry, which makes the marsh both in the low-temperature northern part and in the deeply stagnant eastern part suitable for further agricultural development.

Wuliangsuhai Wetlands: A Critical Habitat for Migratory Water Birds

Wuliangsuhai wetland is one of the representative wetlands in arid-semiarid region. It is also a key breeding site as well as a stepping site for both East Asia-Australasia Flyway and Central Asia Flyway. From 2009 to 2012, surveys on migratory water birds and their habitat were carried out by using transects census and spot count methods. The surveys recorded more than 100 000 water birds, and 98 species were identified, which belong to 6 orders and 14 families. Among the 98 species, 55 are summer residents （breeding here） and 39 are travelers （only stay here shortly）, which account for 56.12% and 39.80% of the total recorded bird species respectively. Further analysis on their migration pattern shows that spring migration is mainly from early March to mid May, which is shorter than autumn migration season （from early August to mid November）. Most of the summer residents breed from early April to late May. High concentration of key protected species were observed from early April to early May and from early September to early November. The bird community structure is relatively stable in summer, but much more dynamic during the migration seasons （spring and autumn）. Based on the study, recommendation to nominate Wuliangsuhai wetlands as Ramsar site, and flyway network site were put forward. Habitat management that address to the environmental determinants on bird distribution was also discussed.

Changes of wetland landscape patterns in Dadu River catchment from 1985 to 2000, China

Based on the interpretation and vector processing of remote sensing images in 1985 and 2000, the spatial changes of wetland landscape patterns in Dadu River catchment in the last two decades were studied using spatial analysis method. Supported by Apack soft-ware, the indices of wetland landscape pattern were calculated, and the information entropy （IE） was also introduced to show the changes of wetland landscape information. Results showed that wetland landscape in this region was characteristic of patch-corridor-matrix configuration and dominantly consisted of natural wetlands. Landscape patterns changed a little with low fragment and showed concentrated distribution with partial scattered distribution during the period from 1985 to 2000. The values of patch density and convergence index kept stable, and the values of diversity, evenness indices decrease, while dominance and and IE showed a slight fractal dimension indices were increased. All types of wetland landscapes had higher adjacency probabilities with grassland landscape in 1985 and 2000, and there was extremely weak hydrological link and large spatial gap among river, glacier, reservoir and pond wetlands due to low adjacency matrix values. Since their cumulative contribution exceeded 81% through the PCA analysis, the agriculture activities would be the main driving force to the landscape changes during the past 15 years.

中国湿地保护修复管理经验与未来研究趋势

Wetlands are important natural resources for humans and play an irreplaceable ecological function in the terrestrial ecosystem.To curb the continued loss of wetlands globally,international organizations and many countries have taken a series of major conservation and restoration measures.This work reviews these wetland conservation and restoration measures,interprets China’s wetland conservation and restoration management policies,and proposes that future research on wetland resources in China should be conducted from the aspects of international frontiers and national strategic plans,socioeconomics,and smart services.The results show that the 27 International Wetlands Days from 1997 to 2023 provided new goals and tasks for the protection and management of wetlands.The important topics and outcomes of the 14 Conferences of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands from 1980 to 2022 provided new directions and new challenges for wetland development.In the future,we should enhance wetland ecological functions,promote sustainable wetland development,and overcome the technical bottleneck of fragile wetland ecosystem restoration.From 1992 to 2022,China embarked on a new phase of wetland protection and restoration.The overall experience of wetland protection and restoration in China has been formed through national strategic deployment,legal policy establishment,and project planning and implementation.The needs to provide for and plan the long-term protection of wetlands at the national level,to innovate restoration and management techniques and application systems,and to effectively address the complex issues of wetland protection and restoration through collaborative division of labor among multiple departments were emphasized.Research on the future trends of wetlands should be directed towards the exploration and practice of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and several international conventions in support of sustainable wetland development.Wetland protection,restoration,and management services should be promoted for national strategic needs and local,high-quality social and economic development.In addition,research on cross-integration and academic innovation should be enhanced for disciplinary development,global supervision,comprehensive assessment,and smart decision making.

Influence of land cover features on avian community and potential conservation priority areas for biodiversity at a Ramsar site in India

Background:Wetlands provide diverse ecological services to sustain rich biodiversity,but they are recklessly exploited around the globe.East Kolkata Wetlands(EKW;Ramsar site No.1208,~125 km^(2))was once very rich in faunal diversity that declined over the years due to various anthropogenic pressures.In such scenarios,effective management plans need to contemplate local and landscape level initiatives and prioritize areas for conservation.Studying the foraging guild structure and spatial patterns of relationship between bird and its environment provides important insight of ecological processes of avifauna.Thus,we carried out extensive surveys in 142 point count stations to explore the diversity and foraging guild structure of birds in EKW.We addressed two important questions that how bird diversity varied from the outer periphery of the city towards the wetlands and how bird diversity is influenced by land cover features at local and landscape level in wetland complex.The goal of this study was to prepare a spatial map of avian diversity and to find the conservation priority areas for birds in this internationally recognized wetland complex.Results:We recorded 94 species of birds and the Shannon diversity index values ranged between 1.249 and 3.189.We found that the avian diversity increased with increasing distance from city periphery.Omnivores and insectivores were the dominant foraging guilds,followed by carnivores,granivores,frugivores and piscivores.Generalized Linear Models revealed that bird communities were positively influenced by areas of wetlands,dikes and banks,agricultural field and emergent vegetation,and negatively influenced by built-up area.In the projected spatial map of species diversity,74.15 km^(2)area has high diversity.Finally,we identified 12.82 km^(2) of top 10%conservation priority areas.Conclusions:Low bird diversity near city periphery is related to habitat degradation due to anthropogenic pressure.Dominance of omnivores and insectivores indicates a possible impact of urbanization in EKW.We suggest that a mix of agricultural field,wetland areas and emergent vegetation helps to sustain a greater avian community.Besides,protection of conservation priority areas,restoration of the degraded habitats and reduction of threats(particularly in the north-eastern parts of EKW near the city periphery)will ensure the conservation of avifauna,and also the overall biodiversity of EKW.