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Internationally, the wetlands of headwater and upland regions provide many valuable environmental services. They influence flood flows, sediment loads and aquifer recharge; biochemical water qualities and biodiversity. They affect the livelihoods of many communities providing water, peat, timber, grazing, crops and, locally, aesthetic, cultural, recreational, nature conservation and educational benefits. Previously, many of these lands were valued only for their capacity to be converted to other uses through drainage and forestation. Today, their benefits are better appreciated. Better environmental management highlights ways of bringing enhanced benefits from these lands to all stakeholders and of minimising their potentially negative impacts due to climatic emissions of greenhouse gases, hydrological changes (especially flooding, water chemistry) and sediment release. This book moves towards a more comprehensive inventory of the benefits and costs of headwater wetlands. It evaluates the research that tries to understand the tolerances, exchanges, checks and balances within headwater landscapes and the downstream impacts of changes in wetlands. It employs case studies and reviews from 21 nations spanning Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. It explores the new policy frameworks, changes in land husbandry, new systems for community education, participatory processes and technological interventions required for the effective management of headwater wetlands and the full integration of wetlands (including newly constructed wetlands) into environmental management and planning. In the past, most research dealt with wetlands as isolated features, this book examines wetlands in their watershed management context.
Preface. Headwater Wetlands.- Mapping Wetlands in European Headwater Areas.- The Role of Forest on the Hydrology of Headwater Wetlands.- Role of Grassland Ecosystems in Protection of Forested Wetlands.- The Effect of Peat Land Drainage and Afforestation of Runoff Dynamics: Consequences on Floods in the Glomma River.- Impact of Herbaceous Vegetation on Recovery of a Harvested Headwater Catchment.- Leaching of Nitrogen from Upland Forest-Regeneration Sites into Wetland Areas.- Hydrology of Disturbed Peat-Land, Heads of the Valleys, Wales.- Estimation of Water Budget in the Forested Peatlands of Western Ireland.- Role of the Planktonic Communities in the Regulation and Indication of Eutrofication Processes in Shallow Mountain Wetlands.- New Wetland Formation in Subsidence Hollows of Western Donbass, Ukraine.- Integrating Wetlands into Watershed Management: Effectiveness of Constructed Wetlands to Reduce Impacts from Urban Stormwater.- Disasters and Climate Change ? Their Relation to Wetland Headwaters.- The Alleghe Lake (Dolomites, Italy): Environmental Role and Sediment Management.- Alpine Wetlands from Ecological Network to Land Based Risk Prevention: The Case of Pian Di Spagna, Italy.- Headwater Resources and Headwater Hazards ? The Perspective of Environmental Education. Case Study Galtur, Austria.- Hydrology of Wetlands in the Headwaters of Great African Rivers.- Headwater Wetlands in Eastern and Southern Africa. The Evolving Debate.- Economic Contribution of Headwater Wetlands. Experience from western Ethiopia.- The Lake Kinneret Drainage Basin: Headwater Discharges, Hydrology and Nutrient Dynamics in the Hula Valley Wetland.- Environmental Change in Headwater Peat Wetlands, UK.- Environmental Problems of Headwater Wetlands in Hungary.- Headwater Wetlands in the Czech Republic.- Analysis of the Water Balance of Small Paramo Catchments in South Ecuador.- Summary Reports: Wetlands in Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Belarus and Canada.- Headwater and Wetland Protection: The Italian Legal Framework.- Next Generation of Watershed Management Programmes: Objectives and Expected Results.- Conclusion ? Wetlands in Context.- List of Contributors. Participants. Index.
