2016/23 Wetland health monitoring Technical Report
- Author
- Greater Wellington
- Year
- 2023
- Publisher / Organisation
- Greater Wellington
- Pages
- 37
- Summary
- Wetlands are defined as <permanently or intermittently wet areas, shallow water, and land water margins that support a natural ecosystem of plants and animals that are adapted to wet conditions= (RMA). It is estimated that only 2.3% of the original wetland extent remains in the Wellington region (Ausseil et al. 2003). The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 requires that <there is no further loss of extent of natural inland wetlands, their values are protected, and their restoration is promoted.= Greater Wellingtonʼs (GW) Natural Resources Plan (NRP) contains policies and rules and methods intended to achieve this protection and improve the health of the regions remaining wetlands. GW also has a Key Native Ecosystem (KNE) programme which aims to improve ecological outcomes at selected high value ecological sites, which includes 47 of the regionʼs wetlands. The aim of the State of the Environment Wetland Health Monitoring Programme is to monitor the state and trend of wetlands in the region to determine the effectiveness of GW policies and interventions through the KNE programme and other wetland management programmes.