Comment on Davies et al., ‘Towards a Universal declaration of the Rights of Wetlands’
Peter Bridgewater
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Vening Meineszgebouw A, Princetonlaan 8a, NL-3584 CB, Utrecht, Netherlands. Email: p.bridgewater@uu.nl
B Institute for Applied Ecology and Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra 11 Kirinari Street, Bruce, ACT 2617, Australia. Email: peter.bridgewater@canberra.edu.au
C Centre for Museums and Heritage Studies, The Australian National University, Sir Roland Wilson Building, McCoy Circuit, ACT 0200, Australia. Email: peter.bridgewater@anu.edu.au
Marine and Freshwater Research - https://doi.org/10.1071/MF20352
Submitted: 7 December 2020 Accepted: 11 February 2021 Published online: 18 June 2021
Abstract
Promulgation of a Declaration of Rights for Wetlands to improve their conservation and management has superficial attraction. However, difficulties with defining what a wetland is and confusing human rights with ecosystem rights suggest there are more problems than opportunities inherent in such a Declaration. Involving Indigenous and local knowledge in the discussion without a clear vision for access to and use of that knowledge also has problems. A better solution to stemming the tide of wetland loss is to rethink the problem in terms of landscape stewardship and to use the existing governance and legislative systems, especially the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Ecosystem Approach in tandem with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Iran, 1971), more effectively.
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