The nature values of constructed wetlands in climate change mitigation and adaptation in the context of carbon-water nexus: stakeholders' perception of Paya Indah wetlands, Malaysia

Constructed wetlands aid in climate change mitigation and adaptation, ensuring the sustainability of our earth system. Constructed wetlands are a terrific ecosystem that possesses incredible nature values, both instrumental and intrinsic values, through the concept of the carbon-water nexus. As a result, the management of constructed wetlands must take into account their significance as vital resources that boost their resilience in strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Hence, this study attempts to determine the importance of nature values of constructed wetlands among stakeholders of Paya Indah Wetlands, Malaysia, in the context of the carbon-water nexus. The research instrument used was the structured questionnaire, using the Likert scale known as the Intrinsic-Instrumental Assessment Tool. The survey was conducted on 382 respondents, comprising PERHILITAN conservation staff, local communities and visitors as the stakeholders of Paya Indah Wetlands, Malaysia. Methods used for analysing data were descriptive and ANOVA analyses using SPSS version 26. Overall, the descriptive analysis shows that all the measured nature values have a high level of importance among the stakeholders. Furthermore, the analysis shows a significant difference in objective intrinsic values, revealing that subjective intrinsic value is appreciated by the stakeholders as the most important nature value, followed by instrumental values, while objective intrinsic values are the least important among the stakeholders. The importance of instrumental values is higher among the PERHILITAN conservation staff. In contrast, visitors and local communities perceive the intrinsic values of Paya Indah Wetlands as the most important in addressing climate change. This study provides empirical data and information to the socio-ecology research to clarify the importance of nature values, leading decision-makers to prioritise the ecosystem functions and benefits. In addition, this study supports climate change mitigation and adaptation planning and justifies a plan for integrated constructed wetlands conservation.