Wetlands provide various benefits to human society through their diverse functions. What are the public perceptions of these functions or ecosystem services of wetlands?

To understand the public perceptions of the importance of the functions of wetlands, an online survey was conducted in February 2020 among men and women aged 20 to 69 nationwide registered with a research firm, and responses were received from 1,674 individuals.

The following figure illustrates the results of the best-worst scaling of the importance of wetland functions.

The vertical axis represents the relative importance of the function, with 1 being the most important, and the higher the graph, the more important it is rated. The results of the analysis indicated that the following functions were rated higher in order of importance: “water purification”, “flood prevention”, “biodiversity conservation”, “water quantity control”, “carbon storage”, “creation and maintenance of beautiful scenery”, and “provision of recreational opportunities”.

These results show that citizens highly value functions that improve safety and the environment.

Acknowledgments: Photographs provided by Sarobetsu Eco Network, a certified non-profit organization, were used in the survey.