Remote Sensing Applications in Wetland Conservation and Management: A Literature Review

Wetlands, dynamic interfaces between land and water, serve as biodiversity hotspots and vital providers of ecosystem services, including water purification, flood control and carbon sequestration. However, rapid degradation from urbanisation, agriculture and resource extraction necessitates urgent and effective conservation strategies. This literature review synthesises global studies from 1999 to 2023 to evaluate the role of remote sensing technology in wetland conservation and management. Using a systematic literature review approach, peer-reviewed articles were selected based on their application of satellite imagery, aerial photography, LiDAR, SAR, object-based image analysis (OBIA) and machine learning techniques for wetland mapping, monitoring and management. The analysis reveals that remote sensing enables accurate boundary delineation, wetland-type identification and long-term change detection, with hybrid optical-SAR-LiDAR approaches and Random Forest classifiers consistently achieving the highest accuracy. Continuous monitoring effectively tracks land-cover shifts, vegetation health and hydrological dynamics, while integration with multi-criteria decision tools (AHP-TOPSIS) supports conservation prioritisation. Results highlight significant advancements in national-scale wetland mapping and predictive modelling of future loss, yet persistent gaps remain in satellite-ground data fusion, standardised classification systems, optimal temporal sampling and policy translation. The review concludes that remote sensing has become an indispensable, cost-effective tool for evidence-based wetland conservation worldwide, including in data-scarce regions like East Africa. Recommendations include: (1) adopting combined optical-radar-LiDAR workflows as standard practice, (2) developing regionally harmonised wetland classification frameworks, (3) promoting community-ground-truthed validation, (4) establishing open-access wetland monitoring platforms for Africa, and (5) strengthening collaboration between remote sensing experts, ecologists and policymakers to ensure research directly informs restoration and protection strategies.