World Rivers Review: Focus on Biodiversity - December 2011

Date: 
Thursday, December 8, 2011

World Rivers ReviewRiver ecosystems are in trouble, which means we’re all in trouble. This special issue of World Rivers Review focuses on biodiversity and rivers. As International Rivers’ executive director Jason Rainey writes in the commentary, “We’re losing life forms that have the ability to nourish us, keep our water clean, produce breathable air and fertile soil, and ultimately make our planet the amazing place it is. If we don’t protect our biological richness and diversity, we undercut the re-generative capacity of the Earth, we undermine the prospect of life creating the conditions conducive to life.”

The cover story by a team of diverse scientists lay out the global scope of the crisis affecting rivers. Interviews with prominent scientists describe what’s at stake, and what’s being done to conserve our rich heritage. It’s an informative package that we hope will help raise awareness and understanding, and spur action.

Inside:

A Global Crisis: What must be done to save the world's rivers?
Commentary: Are you ready to fight for biodiversity, or care to take your chances and swim with the sturgeon?
Mekong: The world’s fishiest river should not be dammed.  
India: One of the globe’s “hottest hotspots,” the Western Ghats, is in trouble.
Solutions: Community-run fish sanctuaries help preserve biodiversity in India’s rivers.
Policy: What’s working, what’s not in the fight to protect riverine ecosystems.  
Latin America: Experts discuss the ecological mysteries of riverine systems.
Where Rivers Flow, Biodiversity Grows: Interview with Kierán Suckling.
Sweating the Small Stuff: Interview with E.O. Wilson.
China’s Rich Natural Heritage Under Threat: Interview with Zhou Dequn.

Gecko photo courtesy of Bill Pottinger