Tropical Wetland Valuation: An influence of local knowledge in Malay traditional ecosystem for human well-being

Abstract

Tropical wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on earth which provide vital services and consist of various types of plant and animal communities that live in the water and on land. However, this golden area is one of the most undervalued ecosystems and the awareness on protecting the areas is still lacking among communities. The aim of this study was to review the wetland services in a tropical climate which functions to complete the ecosystem. In particular, this study will i) explore the values of wetland ecosystem towards human well-being in tropical culture and ii) to design a complete wetland ecosystem with respect to the local knowledge in a tropical climate. This study indicates that the new millennium of ecosystem services provided by tropical wetland has been disaggregated into provisioning of goods; regulating services, cultural development and supporting the process by considering the influence of Malay traditional wetland. Therefore, a complete tropical ecosystem is designed by imitating the natural wetland for societal well-being.