Helping rivers fight for their lives

Abstract

Freshwater conservation Buckling under the pressures of growing water demand and pollution, the world’s freshwater biodiversity and habitats are being lost at an unprecedented rate. International freshwater experts from as far afield as the US and Australia gathered at Skukuza, in the Kruger National Park, to identify solutions for freshwater conservation. Lani van Vuuren reports. Most governments afford low priority to improved freshwater ecosystem management, with decision makers and communities often being unaware of the threats and opportunities to conserve freshwater ecosystems. “Conserving river ecosystems depend on whole catchment management, where land and water is managed in an integrated manner aimed at achieving ecological and socio-economic sustainability,” noted Jeanne Nel of CSIR’s Natural Resources & the Environment Unit.

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