The integration of nature values and services in the nature-based solution assessment framework of constructed wetlands for carbon-water nexus in carbon sequestration and water security

Abstract

As the climate change impacts are expected to become increasingly disruptive, affecting water security, environmental health and ecosystem, constructed wetlands receive attention for their functions in delivering various life-sustaining services to human and environmental systems. In this article, a systematic review was conducted through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses standard to identify the current research on constructed wetlands' nature values and services from 2011 to 2020 of two databases, namely Scopus and Web of Science. The criteria of assessment focus on holistic deliberation of subject matters, namely carbon sequestration and water security as regulating and provisioning services, as well as nature values of constructed wetlands, namely instrumental and intrinsic values. As a result, 38 articles were selected and comprehensively examined. As the lack of an interdisciplinary approach makes data and information integration difficult, this study derived an integrated classification of constructed wetlands' services and mapped with its nature values, guided by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework. Besides, mechanisms and factors affecting carbon sequestration and water security were also discussed. The carbon-water nexus was then conceptualised as interlinkages between engineered and natural physicochemical processes at the interface between carbon and water cycles. To fill the gaps, based on the carbon-water nexus concept, a new framework was synthesised at the end of the deliberation for constructed wetlands in regulating local climate through carbon sequestration and ensuring water security through water treatment and purification as well as influencing socio-cultural values, which needs an integrated approach that is the novelty of this work. The framework integrates the dichotomy of the instrumental-intrinsic nature values of constructed wetlands to evaluate the importance and benefit of the carbon-water nexus. The framework that reveals the vitality of nature values provided by constructed wetlands can help improve the decision-making to prioritise ecosystem services and conservation efforts, particularly in the sustainable management of constructed wetlands.

Keywords: Carbon sequestration; Carbon–water nexus; Constructed wetlands; Natured-based solution; Sustainability; Water security.