WATER MANAGEMENT AND BIODIVERSITY : The opportunity cost of protecting biodiversity in a Mediterranean delta . DRAFT

In wetlands, hydrology is a driving factor in all ecological economic interactions. Any attempt at water management for human activities will alter the balance of these interactions, and may threaten sustainable use of wetland resources. The Camargue is an extensive area of wetland (80 000 ha) in the Rhône delta in the South of France, where hydrology has long been influenced by man. The interaction of freshwater introduced for human activities, as early as the XVIIth century, and salt water, has produced over the years a rich mosaic of habitats and high biological diversity. Over recent decades, however, water has been more intensively