[[Image:ground ctch icon.png|right|80px]]
[[Image:wetlands.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Wetlands of South Africa. Photo: [http://www.moyawatenga.co.za/why-wetlands-matter-a-media-release-from-the-ewt/ Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).]]]
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Wetlands can be considered as sinks into which surface water or groundwater flows from a surrounding catchment. Within landscapes they are “natural harvesters” of rainwater and, by definition, sites where water occurs at or close to the ground surface.
Rural communities obtain direct benefits from wetlands when they harvest reeds for crafts, grow crops in wetland fields and extract water for drinking. They also obtain medicinal plants from wetlands, and at least 70% of South Africans are believed to use traditional medicine as their primary form of health care. Wetlands are also important carbon sinks, playing a key role in mitigating climate change.
===Field experiences===
In Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR, wetlands offer flood attenuation and wastewater treatment services valued at USD 2 million per year. It has been estimated that these ecosystem services constitute investment savings of more than USD 18 million in damage costs avoided and USD 1.5 million in the artificial technologies that would be required to fulfill the same functions.
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===Manuals, videos, and links===
* [http://wetlands-afrique.40fingers.eu/Resources/NewsEN/tabid/2693/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/1873/Default.aspx Drought in eastern Africa worsened by wetland loss.] Wetlands International, 2009.
* [http://www.anchorenvironmental.co.za/Documents/Pdfs/Turpie%20et%20al.%201999%20EconVal%20Zambezi%20Basin.pdf ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE ZAMBEZI BASIN WETLANDS]. Jane Turpie, Brad Smith, Lucy Emerton, et al. University of Cape Town. December 1999.
===Acknowledgements===
* McCartney, M.; Rebelo, L-M.; Senaratna Sellamuttu, S. et al. [http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/IWMI_Research_Reports/PDF/PUB137/RR137.aspx Wetlands, Agriculture and Poverty Reduction.] or [http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/IWMI_Research_Reports/PDF/PUB137/RR137.pdf direct link to PDF]. IWMI, 2010.
* [http://www.moyawatenga.co.za/why-wetlands-matter-a-media-release-from-the-ewt/ Why Wetlands Matter | A media Release from The EWT.] The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT). Posted 2010.
* [http://www.siwi.org/documents/Resources/Reports/CSD_Making_water_part_of_economic_development_2005.pdf MAKING WATER A PART OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: The Economic Benefits of Improved Water Management and Services]. Stockholm International Water Institute, SIWI. Governments of Norway and Sweden.