Wetland reclamation has long been regarded as a strategy to meet growing food demand, given the favorable soil and water conditions of wetlands. However, the trade-off between potentially greater crop production and the ecological cost of lost wetlands—especially involving flood regulation—has not been well understood.
I mean, it’s been known for a long time that one of the benefits of not developing wetlands is that leaving them alone means less adverse effects for surrounding areas when floods do happen. You turn that into an agricultural field and you lose 100% of that benefit and your crops are now under water.