​Global Wetlands - GLOW

"promoting healthy marine ecosystems"

​A program developing and applying globally applicable assessments of coastal wetland health to drive actions and investments towards protection, restoration and improvement of wetlands worldwide.
Program overview
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Coastal wetlands – mangroves, seagrass, saltmarsh and estuaries – are valuable ecosystems with high biodiversity. Long favoured as sites for human settlements, they provide us with safe ports, fisheries resources, and access to fresh water. They are critically important in the production of seafood and they assist in protecting coastlines from extreme weather events, now and as sea levels rise. However as the world’s coastal cities continue to grow and industrialise, many coastal wetlands are facing major declines in ecosystem health. We will shine a spotlight on where the problems are, and show what needs to be done to protect what we have and where rehabilitation will be most effective.

​To achieve this, we are assessing coastal wetland health around the world, to:
  • highlight the most urgent issues facing coastal wetlands
  • guide targeted investment and practical actions towards protection and rehabilitation
We will:
  1. develop and apply globally applicable measures of coastal wetland ecosystem health,
  2. identify locations most in need of protection and rehabilitation, as a guide to where investment in conservation actions can be most effective,
  3. build web-based scenario models to help conservation-focussed projects identify cost effective options for protection and rehabilitation.
Current case studies
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​Gamtoos River, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Collaborator: Anusha Rajkaran, University of Western Cape
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​Ria de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
Collaborator: Ana Sousa, University of Aveiro
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​Sundarbans, Kolkata, India.
Collaborator: Mahua Roy Chowdhury, University of Calcutta
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Pearl River, Hong Kong, China.
Collaborator: Shing-Yip (Joe) Lee, Chinese University of Hong Kong
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Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia.
Collaborator: Paul Maxwell, Healthy Land and Water
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​Port Resolution, Tanna Island, Vanuatu.
Collaborator: EcoAdapt project led by Brendan Mackey, Griffith University
​Positions available
JOB ADVERTISEMENT: Research fellow in marine ecology
We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow in Aquatic Ecology to work on coastal wetlands and environmental accounting. Supervised by Dr Chris Brown in collaboration with Dr Mark Kennard and Prof. Rod Connolly. This is a 2 year position.
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For more information, visit seascapemodels.org