Many of the world’s biggest rivers, including the Nile, Ganges, Yangtze and Danube, are facing catastrophic collapse due to man-made problems, according to a leading conservation group. A wasteful attitude to water use and inadequate protection of rivers has destroyed ecosystems while threatening the livelihoods of people living in river basins.
”We’re talking about a complete collapse of the system — they’re so polluted, so over-extracted or so cut up by dams that it’s really not functioning as a river any more,” said Tom le Quesne, freshwater policy officer at WWF-UK, the conservation charity that published a report on Tuesday on the threats to the world’s rivers. ”It’s a challenge that humanity faces not far off the scale of climate change.”
The report, launched ahead of Thursday’s World Water Day, highlights problems facing Asia, where five of the 10 rivers listed in the report are found — the Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Ganges and Indus.
”If these rivers die, millions will lose their livelihoods, biodiversity will be destroyed on a massive scale, [and] there will be less fresh water and agriculture, resulting in less food security,” said Ravi Singh, secretary general of WWF-India, at a briefing in Delhi on Tuesday to mark the launch of the report.
Rivers are the world’s main source of fresh water and, according to the WWF, almost half of the world’s supply is currently being tapped. Dams cut off rivers from flood plains, which dry up and destroy habitats. The WWF said that fish populations are being affected in areas where fish provides the main source of protein for hundreds of thousands of communities.
The report added that the Danube, which runs from Germany through south-eastern Europe to the Black Sea and contains more than half of all fish species in Europe, has lost 80% of its wetlands and flood plains as a result of too many dams and projects to make the river more navigable.
The world’s longest river, the Nile, has served as a source of drinking water for thousands of years but, according to the WWF, it will face scarcity by 2025.
The Yangtze basin is one of the most polluted rivers in the world because of China’s rapid industrialisation. The WWF highlighted how, at the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project, ”garbage heaps, boat effluent, pig and animal waste, factories, hospitals and mines containing hazardous and possibly radioactive waste on the bottom of the reservoir are creating serious pollution”.
The Rio Grande, which flows along the United States-Mexican border and contains 69 fish species found nowhere else in the world, is threatened by excessive extraction of water, mainly for agriculture.
”If you stand on the banks of the Rio Grande, which is the second longest river in the US, it’s got no water in it; it’s almost unbelievable,” said Le Quesne. ”That has pervasive effects on people who depend on the water to grow their crops, and it destroys ecosystems.”
In India, the Ganges plain makes up one-third of the country’s land area and one in 12 people depends on the water for fishing and farming. According to the WWF, the tributaries flowing into the Ganges are beginning to dry up as barrages divert water for irrigation.
Le Quesne said that problems highlighted by the WWF report have been man-made. Impending climate change will just make things worse. Up to 40% of the water in the Ganges comes from glaciers in the Himalayas, which could retreat if the world warms up.
”We’ve all been used to taking water for granted. We’ve assumed that water is a limitless resource. It’s not any more,” said Le Quesne. ”It’s a question of using water wisely and managing it. It’s a question of political will.”
TOP 10 EBBING AWAY
Salween, China
Damaged by infrastructure, dams
Danube, central Europe
Damaged by infrastructure, navigation
La Plata, South America
Damaged by infrastructure, dams and navigation
Rio Grande-Rio Bravo, South America
Damaged by over-extraction of water
Ganges, India
Damaged by over-extraction of water
Indus, Pakistan
Damaged by climate change
Nile-Lake Victoria, North Africa
Damaged by climate change
Murray-Darling, Australia
Damaged by invasive species
Mekong-Lancang, South-East Asia
Damaged by over-fishing
Yangtze, China
Damaged by pollution
— Guardian Unlimited Â