Abstract or Summary
Wetlands are ecosystems that provide numerous goods and services that have an economic value, notonly to the local population living in its periphery butalso to communities living outside the wetland area. They are important sources for food, fresh water and building materials and provide valuable services such as water treatment and erosion control. The estimates in this paper show, for example, that unvegetated sediment wetlands like the Dutch Wadden Sea and the Rufiji Delta in Tanzania have the highest median economic values of all wetland types at $374 per hectare per year.