Amman, Jordan, 5.10.00 (IUCN) -
IUCN launches an ambitious freshwater programme consisting of 24 projects worldwide at the 2nd World Conservation Congress in Amman today.
The Initiative follows the growing international concerns on freshwater resources - as expressed at the 2nd World Water Forum last March. Forum participants and ministers from 132 countries called for actions to avert the world water crisis. Communities around the world already face serious shortages of fresh water, and the number is expected to rise to thirty percent of the world's population by 2025.
It also comes at a time when IUCN's 2000 Red List of Threatened Species signals an extremely serious deterioration in river-dwelling species. For instance, 30 % of freshwater fish species are currently threatened and estimates also indicate that over 800 other freshwater species are at risk of extinction. Further research is likely to reveal an even deeper worldwide crisis in freshwater biodiversity.
Says Dr. Maritta von Bieberstein Koch-Weser, Director General of IUCN: 'This Initiative fills the missing link in the water discussions, which usually focused on the distribution of water, not on where that water comes from. Healthy ecosystems renew our water and provide the clean water to support all life on earth, human as well as species'.
The 'Water and Nature Initiative' will demonstrate how catchments and our water resources can be managed in a sustainable way through an integrated approach. Projects will focus on protecting, restoring and managing ecosystems that provide clean water and numerous other valuable services to communities. The Initiative recognises that the sustainable management of catchments and their water resources forms the basis of economic, social and environmental security of individuals and societies.
Besides field level demonstrations, the Initiative will develop the knowledge for sustainable water use; empower communities to participate in decision-making; and work on the governance of river basins, by examining and developing legal and financial tools. Learning from its experiences, the Initiative will develop lesson that can be applied in other cases.
The Initiative has been developed on the basis of extensive consultations with IUCN members and partners. Central to the outcome of these is the idea that investments in ecosystem conservation and the sustainable use of water resources are a cheap way of water management. Creating an enabling environment for integrated management is much more cost effective than restoration of degraded ecosystems.:
