Imperiled Rivers

Imperiled Rivers
by Dr Arvind Kumar

The world's rivers are facing a barrage of unprecedented impacts from humans, dams, agricultural runoff, pesticides, sewage, mercury pollution from coal plants, invasive species, overconsumption, irrigation, erosion from deforestation, wetland destruction, overfishing, aquaculture etc. According to a recent report published in leading journal Nature, global waterways are in a deep crisis. While societies spend billions treating the symptoms of widespread river degradation, they are still failing to address the causes, imperiling both human populations and freshwater biodiversity.

The report further reveals that 80 percent of the world's population (nearly 5.5 billion people) lives in an area where their rivers are gravely threatened, putting the issue of water security at front and centre. Besides, it is reported that freshwater organisms, on which people depend, are also in crisis, echoing a study conducted in 2009 that reported that the world's freshwater species are more threatened than both land and marine. Paradoxically, the developed nations were no better at safeguarding their rivers than developing nations.

It is high time for the developing world to learn from failures of the West; and protect watersheds from polluters to reduce the cost of cleaning up drinking water, while preserving floodplains provides natural protection from floods.