- Lead organisation: University of Tel-Aviv, La Tour du Valat.
- Other partners: The University of Jerusalem.
- Brief description: The main objective of this research is to understand the relationship between ecosystem management, focusing on water management, and the provision of ecosystem services in wetlands, by comparing two Mediterranean wetlands: the Camargue, France, a large coastal wetland with delta flowing into the Mediterranean Sea and the Hula, an inland wetland in Israel.
- Time schedule: 2011-2012.
- Current status: Data collection and analysis, two scientific papers published.• Coralie Beltrame and al. published in the International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management the article “Exploring the links between local management and conservation, applying the ecosystem services concept: conservation and tourism service in Camargue, France“. This article aims at testing whether the ecosystem services framework helps in understanding the link between local management and biodiversity conservation. Tourism was analysed in Camargue (France), a wetland area of high biodiversity value, via semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders.• Emmanuelle Cohen-Shacham et al. published in December 2011 in the Hydrological Sciences Journal the article “Ecosystem service trade-offs in wetland management: drainage and reha-bilitation of the Hula, Israel“. The Hula wetland, a freshwater lake surrounded by swamps in the watershed basin of the Sea of Galilee, was drained in the 1950s for arable land and to reduce evaporation, thereby increasing the usable water available. A nature reserve was then designated, but this did not prevent species extinction. Later, severe environmental problems developed in the area; therefore, a rehabilitation project was implemented. An analysis of the impact of drainage and rehabilitation on the Hula wetland is presented, and ecosystem service trade-offs that occurred over the past 80 years are evaluated.