The 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment reported on the importance of water and wetlands to society and the economy through the provision of ecosystem services - freshwater supply, food, building materials, risk reduction and flood control, ground water recharge, biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation and more. Despite these benefits, the degradation and loss of wetlands continues. This TEEB for Water and Wetlands document provides key messages on TEEB for Water and Wetlands. THe overall project aims to utilise the TEEB approach to generate a better understanding of the ecosystem service values of water and wetlands to encourage additional policy momentum and business commitment for their conservation, investment and wise use. By using the arguments based on the ecological and economic evidence base, the report will seek to demonstrate how understanding and capturing the value of ecosystem services related to water and wetlands can lead to better informed and efficient decision making. The TEEB initiative has demonstrated the policy usefulness of presenting evidence on the value of nature, and targeting the messages to different audiences – international and national policy makers, local and regional policy makers and administrators, business, the academic community and citizens (www.teebweb.org). Understanding the value of ecosystem services raises awareness that water and wetland services are valuable and indispensible services that nature provides for free. The Convention on Wetlands or "Ramsar Convention", which has commissioned this work, is multilateral environment agreement (MEA) that embodies the commitments of its 162 Member Countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the "wise use", or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories.