Cantal surfacing wetland

In the legal sense, the Water Act of January 1992 defines wetlands as “land, whether or not exploited, usually flooded or engrown with fresh water, salted or brackish permanently or temporarily; vegetation, where it exists, is dominated by hygrophilic plants for at least part of the year”. They are also mentioned in articles 127 and 128 of Law 2005-157 on the development of rural territories (including the addition of an article L. 211-1-1 to the Environmental Code).In practice, their determination (also called “cartography” in terms of rendering) is carried out locally at the level of the basin, the region, or even the department under the supervision of the Agency, the DREAL or a departmental authority... Their suppliers and descriptions may therefore be diverse.Not included here are the so-called Ramsar areas.The Sandstone has established a dictionary “Wetland Inventory” listing the elements of a common core of their description, allowing information exchange and data sharing.

从法律规范层面来看，1992年1月颁布的《水法》将湿地定义为："不论是否被开发利用，常年或季节性被淡水、咸水或半咸水淹没或浸润的土地；若存在植被，则至少一年中有一段时间以湿生植物（hygrophilic plants）为优势群落"。
2005年第2005-157号《农村地区发展法》的第127条、第128条亦对湿地作出了提及，其中还包括为《环境法典》新增的L.211-1-1条款。
实际操作中，湿地的认定工作（在成果呈现维度也可称为"湿地制图"）由流域、大区乃至省级层面的机构负责实施，其监管主体包括相关署局、区域环境规划与住房局（DREAL）以及省级主管部门……因此，湿地数据的来源与描述方式可能存在多样性。
本数据集未纳入拉姆萨尔湿地（Ramsar areas）。
砂岩工作组（Sandstone）已编制《湿地清查（Wetland Inventory）》词典，列明了湿地描述的通用核心要素，以推动跨主体的信息交流与数据共享。