WWF REVEALS EMERGENCY RECOVERY PLAN

WWF reveals Emergency Recovery Plan to halt the catastrophic collapse of world’s freshwater biodiversity

Urgent safeguards needed after 83% decline in freshwater species in last 50 years  

With biodiversity vanishing from rivers, lakes and wetlands at alarming speed, a new scientific paper published today outlines an Emergency Recovery Plan to reverse the rapid decline in the world’s freshwater species and habitats – and safeguard our life support systems.

Published in BioScience, the plan calls for the world to take urgent steps to tackle the threats that have led to an 83% collapse in freshwater species populations and the loss of 30% of freshwater ecosystems since 1970 – ecosystems that provide us with water, food, livelihoods, and protection from floods, droughts and storms.

Developed by a global team of scientists, this is the first comprehensive plan to protect and restore freshwater habitats, which host far more species per square kilometre than land or oceans – and are losing this extraordinary biodiversity two or three times faster.

The six-point plan prioritises solutions that are rooted in cutting edge science and have already proved successful in certain locations. These are:

• Allowing rivers to flow more naturally.
• Reducing pollution.
• Protecting critical wetland habitats.
• Ending overfishing and unsustainable sand mining in rivers and lakes.
• Controlling invasive species.
• Safeguarding and restoring river connectivity through better planning of dams and other infrastructure.

Dave Tickner, Chief Freshwater Advisor at WWF-UK and lead author on the paper said:

“With over a quarter of freshwater species now heading for extinction, nowhere is the nature crisis more acute than in our precious rivers, lakes and wetlands. The Emergency Recovery Plan can halt this decades-long decline and restore life to our dying freshwater ecosystems – but we need governments to act. The UK’s newly appointed Environment Secretary George Eustice can lead the way by acting to stop our rivers and lakes being treated like sewers and wastelands, and put freshwater conservation and restoration at the heart of a New Deal for Nature and People.”

Covering approximately 1% of the Earth’s surface, rivers, lakes and freshwater wetlands are home to 10% of all species and more described fish species than in all the world’s oceans. But they are rapidly disappearing with populations of freshwater megafauna – such as river dolphins, sturgeon, beavers, crocodiles and giant turtles – crashing by 88% in the past half century.

Co-author, Professor Steven Cooke of Carleton University in Canada said:

“The causes of the global collapse in freshwater biodiversity are no secret, yet the world has consistently failed to act, turning a blind eye to the worsening crisis even though healthy freshwater ecosystems are central to our survival. The Emergency Recovery Plan provides an ambitious roadmap to safeguarding freshwater biodiversity – and all the benefits it provides to people across the world.”

The Emergency Recovery Plan highlights a variety of measures that together will transform the management and health of rivers, lakes and wetlands, such as treating sewage before it is flushed into nature, avoiding dams on the world’s remaining free flowing rivers, and expanding and strengthening protected areas, particularly with greater involvement of local communities. Critically, the authors recommend new targets that should be included in the new global deal to conserve and restore biodiversity, that will be agreed by all governments in November.

Co-author James Dalton, Director Global Water Programme, IUCN said:

“All the solutions in the Emergency Recovery Plan have been tried and tested somewhere in the world: they are realistic, pragmatic and they work. We are calling on governments, investors, companies and communities to prioritise freshwater biodiversity – often neglected by the conservation and water management worlds. Now is the time to implement these solutions, before it is too late.”