Houston Community News >> 3 of World Top 10 Drying Rivers in China
3/20/2007- In a newly released
report, The World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), the global conservation
organization, listed 3 major China rivers are drying out and are threatening
severe water shortages. The 3 rivers are the Yangtze (known as Chang Jiang in
China), Mekong (known as Lan Cang Jiang in China), Salween (known as Nu Niang in
China). Here’s the news release:
Gland, Switzerland, 20 Mar 2007– Rivers on every continent are drying out,
threatening severe water shortages, according to a new WWF report.
The report, World’s Top Rivers at Risk (in PDF), released ahead of World Water
Day (22 March), lists the top ten rivers that are fast dying as a result of
climate change, pollution and dams.
“All the rivers in the report symbolize the current freshwater crisis, which we
have been signalling for years,” says WWF Global Freshwater Programme Director
Jamie Pittock.
“Poor planning and inadequate protection of natural areas mean we can no longer
assume that water will flow forever. Like the climate change crisis, which now
has the attention of business and government, we want leaders to take notice of
the emergency facing freshwater now not later.”
Five of the ten rivers listed in the report are in Asia alone. They are the
Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Ganges and Indus. Europe’s Danube, the Americas’ La
Plata and Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, Africa’s Nile-Lake Victoria and Australia’s
Murray-Darling also make the list.
Dams along the Danube River — one of the longest flowing rivers in Europe — have
already destroyed 80 per cent of the river basin’s wetlands and floodplains.
Even without warmer temperatures threatening to melt Himalayan glaciers, the
Indus River faces scarcity due to over-extraction for agriculture. Fish
populations, the main source of protein and overall life support systems for
hundreds of thousands of communities worldwide, are also being threatened.
The report calls on governments to better protect river flows and water
allocations in order to safeguard habitats and people’s livelihoods.
“Conservation of rivers and wetlands must be seen as part and parcel of national
security, health and economic success,” Pittock adds. “Emphasis must be given to
exploring ways of using water for crops and products that do not use more water
than necessary.”
In addition, cooperative agreements for managing shared resources, such as the
UN Watercourses Convention, must be ratified and given the resources to make
them work, says WWF.
“The freshwater crisis is bigger than the ten rivers listed in this report but
it mirrors the extent to which unabated development is jeopardizing nature’s
ability to meet our growing demands,” says Pittock. “We must change our mindset
now or pay the price in the not so distant future."
(Contributed by Chinaview)