Healthy rivers and lakes are not ‘nice-to-haves’, they are essential to our existence

Healthy rivers, lakes and wetlands are not a luxury. They are essential to our existence. They supply and purify our drinking water. They help us adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change by providing natural flood defence, and absorbing and storing carbon. They are home to some of the richest biodiversity on the planet, housing 15,000 different species of fish – that’s roughly 45% of all fish species on the planet – as well as birds, mammals and insects.

And yet, we continue to pollute our rivers and lakes with pesticides, nitrates, and microplastics. To dam, dredge, and channelise them. To bleed them dry to irrigate our farmlands and fuel unsustainable industries, like hydropower. The result? Freshwater ecosystems are now the most threatened on the planet, and, as WWF’s recently published Living Planet Report 2018 shows, the abundance of freshwater species worldwide has declined by an apocalyptic 83% since 1970.

We need Member States to act now to protect our rivers, lakes and wetlands, and to restore those which have already been damaged. In Europe, we are fortunate to have the tool that obliges them to do just that: The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), one of the EU’s most ambitious and progressive pieces of environmental legislation. Under this law, Member States have committed to ensure no further deterioration of their waters, and to restore those which have already been wrecked so they can achieve “good ecological status”.

Healthy rivers, lakes and wetlands are not ‘nice-to-haves’.

Read and download the report Living Planet Report 2018

Original source: EURACTIV
Published on 13 November 2018