Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 Launch The 2010 Biodiversity

Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 Launch The 2010 Biodiversity target and the status of Inland Water Ecosystems

Ramsar wetland type classification The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands addresses all wetlands - from the mountains to the sea: • Inland Wetlands • Human-made wetlands • Marine/Coastal Wetlands

Scope of Inland waters • Inland waters include rivers, lakes, floodplains, including flooded forests, Freshwater springs (oases), fishponds, marshes, swamps, peatlands, inland deltas, and inland saline systems. Geothermal wetlands, Karst and other subterranean hydrological systems, Irrigated land; Water storage areas such as (reservoirs/barrages/dams/impoundments, Wastewater treatment areas.

UNEP GEO-4 and water • MA’s stark messages reinforced by GEO-4: – c 70% available water is already taken by irrigation – Meeting MDG on hunger will mean doubling food production by 2050 – Freshwater is declining: • but by 2025 water use predicted to rise by 50% in developing countries; 18% in developed world “The escalating burden of water demand will become intolerable in water-scarce countries”

Inland-water dependent species risk. R • wetlands, both coastal and inland, and the many species depending upon them, continue to be in particularly serious decline – threatening their capacity to provide their huge range of benefits to people, and threatening the health and livelihoods of communities dependent on them

Inland-water dependent species at risk • • • Plants 2, 614 Insects >125, 000 Molluscs >5, 000 Crustaceans >14, 000 Fishes >15, 000 Reptiles 500 Amphibians 3, 908 Waterbirds 868 Mammals. 135

Wetlands biodiversity trends: shorebird populations population status index”: 4 x faster rate of decline in recent years compared with the rate of decline between the 1980 s and 1990 s BUT: status of Globally-threatened populations improving – conservation action

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Fisheries • Overexploitation of fisheries • inland fisheries is the capture of wild stocks of primarily freshwater fish, including migratory species that move between fresh water and the oceans.

Decline of Fisheries • According to FAO, although global production of fish and fishery products continues to grow, • the harvest from capture fisheries has stagnated over the last decade. • Today numerous fish stocks and species have declined since their historical peaks, and some have even collapsed, leading to urgent • calls for more stringent management and the establishment of protected areas

Overfishing of Inland waters • Most discussion of the current fisheries crisis has focused nearly exclusively on marine resources, and to some extent on associated threats to marine biodiversity, particularly those affecting charismatic animals such as seabirds, marine turtles; • The fisheries of inland waters have received only slight consideration within global analyses • overfishing in inland waters is occurring and is a contributing factor to the decline of freshwater biodiversity.

View of Fishery experts • Inland fisheries provide much-needed protein, jobs, and income, especially in poor rural communities of developing countries. • Systematic overfishing of fresh waters is largely unrecognized because of weak reporting and because fishery declines take place within a complex of other pressures.

View of Fishery experts • consequences of changes to the species, size, and trophic composition of fish assemblages are poorly understood. • These complexities underlie the paradox that overexploitation of a fishery may not be marked by declines in total yield, even when individual species and long-term sustainability are highly threatened.

View of Fishery experts In inland waters, most fisheries are small-scale activities where the catch per capita is relatively small and used mainly for subsistence purposes. The lack of accurate reporting of these smallscale fisheries makes it difficult to describe their status but it is generally felt that they are under considerable pressure from loss and degradation of habitat and overfishing.

View of Fishery experts • One of the symptoms of intense fishing in inland waters is the collapse of particular stocks even as overall fish production rises—a biodiversity crisis more than a fisheries crisis.

Change in wetland extent - mangroves – Few global assessments for wetlands – Earth Observation (remote sensing) may help soon – FAO: mangrove area 1980 -2005 – Progressive & continuing area loss – Rate of loss slower in 2000 -2005 than previously • Except Asia – increased rate of loss

We know what’s driving wetland ecosystem loss: Land-use change impacts Threats to Ramsar sites: Agricultural impacts Water regulation impacts

MOST OF US AGREE…. • Climate Change IS happening • It will likely get worse • Human behaviour is partly to blame • Wetlands will be affected – some impacts …

Carbon storage in wetlands (and In their overall global area, some (intact) ecosystems major carbon stores: other ecosystems) 600 Global carbon stocks (*1015 g. C) Soil Global carbon stocks (*1015 g. C) Plants 500 400 300 200 100 0 Tropical forests Boreal forests Temperate Tropical Temperate Deserts & forests savannas & grasslands & semi-deserts grasslands shrublands Tundra Croplands [Inland] Tidal Mangroves Seagrass Kelp forests Wetlands saltmarshes meadows (max. type)

Securing sustainable water & wetlands – where are we now? • We know what we need to do … – Maintain wetland other ecosystems for their key water & other services, and – Restore degraded wetlands to reinstate their key services to people • We (think we) know how to do it … – Much knowledge and work on environmental water requirements and restoring degraded ecosystems etc. – Governmental and intergovernmental (Ramsar etc) processes to support responses

The way forwards? • Since conserving (and restoring) wetlands is essential for maintaining their services for human well-being and poverty reduction… • Water resources management and spatial planning schemes need to be based on an integrated ecosystem-based approach – landscape & basin scales – But is “Integrated” water resource/river basin management really yet integrated across sectors? ?

Integrating water & wetlands management – where are we now? Ramsar STRP’s recent RBM case study review findings: Progress in integrating wetlands into land & water resources planning and management at basin scale has been: Slow Successes hard-won over long periods Mostly in smaller basins Often needs incentive of (wetland) ecosystem collapse to generate collaborative planning & management • Suite of generic ‘obstacles & challenges’ • • – but numerous creative local solutions

The way forwards? • Better encouragement and empowerment to local people and communities to value and maintain their healthy wetlands for water • More high level understanding and commitment, to secure and implement new forms of water and land-use governance – But changing deeply embedded governance approaches after so long being largely demanddriven is a major challenge

Securing wise use of water & wetlands Some promising responses? ? – – – Securing “environmental water allocations (EWA)” payments for ecosystem water establishing legislative frameworks introducing “caps” on water allocations purchasing water rights etc. Attractive … but really just ‘fixes’? – Even with agreed “EWA”, ecosystems (wetlands) still the loser when water scarce for direct use by people – Water laws: still often adversarial - ecosystems must demonstrate and ‘justify’ their needs against other demands – And inflexible for responding to a rapidly changing water climate

Securing sustainable water & wetlands • So: are we digging ourselves into an ever deeper (and drier) hole by promoting these approaches as solutions, rather than at best interim steps? – When we continue to allocate much more water than is available, from many basins – and without enabling changes to water governance • Shift the paradigm: – From wetlands (ecosystems) as competing users of water – to maintaining and wisely using wetlands as our vital “natural water infrastructure”

Changwon Declaration • Powerful key messages for decision-makers managing other sectors (2 not the biodiversityconverted”) – Water – Climate change – Human health – Energy – Spatial (land-use) planning – etc

The “Changwon Declaration” – Key Messages: Water and wetlands • There is an urgent need to change water governance • Continuing with “business as usual” is no longer an option – Our increasing demand for, and over-use of, water jeopardizes both human well-being and the environment – There is often not enough water to meet our direct human needs and to maintain the wetlands we need – Climate change is increasing uncertainty in water management and making it more difficult to close the gap between water demand supply

The “Changwon Declaration” – Key Messages: Water and wetlands To close this “water gap”, we need to: – use our available water more efficiently; – stop our wetlands from becoming degraded or lost – wisely manage our wetlands … wetlands are the major source of water we have

MEAs. . . response? . . . or cause? Ramsar Convention, CITES, CMS Rio Conventions. CBD, UNFCCC, UNCCD

www. ramsar. org