Overview

The two volumes on "Wetlands as a Natural Resource" in the book series Ecological th Studies (Volumes 190,191) are based on the highlights of the 7 INTECOL International Wetland Conference in Utrecht,25-30 July 2004. This conference brought together about 900 participants from 61 countries, who discussed a very broad range of science-, poli- and management-oriented issues related to wetland ecology and hydrology, wetland conservation and creation, the impact of global change and wetlands as a resource in terms of food, flood protection and water quality enhancement. The participants were from different sectors of society, i. e., science and technology (scientists 45%; PhD s- dents 20%), natural resource management (20%) and policy (15%). There were 38 s- posia with invited speakers centered around the nine conference themes. We have given the organizers of these symposia the opportunity to produce one chapter for these books with the integrated content of their symposium. This has resulted in 25 chapters, of which 13 are included in Volume 190 under the heading "Wetlands and Natural Resource Management"and 12 in Volume 191 under the heading "Wetlands: Functi- ing, Biodiversity Conservation, and Restoration". With these books, we had the aim to summarize the most important recent scientific results in wetland science, their applications in wetland and water resource management and their implications for the development of global, national and regional policies in the perspective of the ever-progressing deterioration of natural wetlands and the major impacts that future climate change will have.