Economic Governance to Expand Commercial Wetlands: Within- and Cross-Scale Challenges

Abstract

Commercial wetlands are defined as wetlands directed by an entrepreneur with the intention of making a profit. The combination of ecosystem services that commercial wetlands can provide seems to be an attractive societal perspective. Nevertheless, these wetlands are not developed on a large scale in the Netherlands. This paper discusses different types of economic governance that could facilitate the development of new commercial wetlands and addresses challenges that have to be overcome. We conclude that developing governance solutions that address ecosystem services with different scales is crucial for the introduction of commercial wetlands. Also, distinct and autonomous property rights of entrepreneurs need to be addressed.

Keywords

• commercial ecosystem
• economic governance
• economic value
• ecosystem management
• ecosystem services
• multifunctional land use
• PES systems
• scaling
• social-ecological systems