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Scientists’ warning to humanity on the freshwater biodiversity crisis

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Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems provide irreplaceable services for both nature and society. The quality and quantity of freshwater affect biogeochemical processes and ecological dynamics that determine biodiversity, ecosystem productivity, and human health and welfare at local, regional and global scales. Freshwater ecosystems and their associated riparian habitats are amongst the most biologically diverse on Earth, and have inestimable economic, health, cultural, scientific and educational values. Yet human impacts to lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands and groundwater are dramatically reducing biodiversity and robbing critical natural resources and services from current and future generations. Freshwater biodiversity is declining rapidly on every continent and in every major river basin on Earth, and this degradation is occurring more rapidly than in terrestrial ecosystems. Currently, about one third of all global freshwater discharges pass through human agricultural, industrial or urban infrastructure. About one fifth of the Earth’s arable land is now already equipped for irrigation, including all the most productive lands, and this proportion is projected to surpass one third by midcentury to feed the rapidly expanding populations of humans and commensal species, especially poultry and ruminant livestock. Less than one fifth of the world’s preindustrial freshwater wetlands remain, and this proportion is projected to decline to under one tenth by midcentury, with imminent threats from water transfer megaprojects in Brazil and India, and coastal wetland drainage megaprojects in China. The Living Planet Index for freshwater vertebrate populations has declined to just one third that of 1970, and is projected to sink below one fifth by midcentury. A linear model of global economic expansion yields the chilling prediction that human utilization of critical freshwater resources will approach one half of the Earth’s total capacity by midcentury. Although the magnitude and growth of the human freshwater footprint are greater than is generally understood by policy makers, the news media, or the general public, slowing and reversing dramatic losses of freshwater species and ecosystems is still possible. We recommend a set of urgent policy actions that promote clean water, conserve watershed services, and restore freshwater ecosystems and their vital services. Effective management of freshwater resources and ecosystems must be ranked amongst humanity’s highest priorities.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Image sources: Acipenser naccarii, †Psephurus gladius, Andrias davidianus from Wikimedia Commons; Crocodylus intermedius and Podocnemis lewyana from Threatened Reptiles of Colombia (http://reporte.humboldt.org.co/biodiversidad/); Pangasianodon gigas from PGNGuru (http://www.pngguru.com/), †Lipotes vexillifer from PNGGuru (http://www.pngguru.com/)

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Funding

Funding was funded by National Science Foundation (US) (Grant Nos. 0614334, 0741450, 1354511), Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas (Grant No. 2016-02045), H2020 European Research Council (Grant No. AdG 250189) and Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Ciência Animal (Grant No. 306455/2014-5).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, 70503, USA

    James S. Albert & Scott M. Duke-Sylvester

  2. Department of Physical Geography, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Georgia Destouni

  3. Centre for Biological Diversity, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16, UK

    Anne E. Magurran

  4. UMR5174 EDB (Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique), CNRS, IRD, UPS, Université Paul Sabatier, 31062, Toulouse, France

    Thierry Oberdorff

  5. Department of Biodiversity and Ecology, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, 90619-900, Brazil

    Roberto E. Reis

  6. Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Kirk O. Winemiller

  7. Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97330, USA

    William J. Ripple

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Albert, J.S., Destouni, G., Duke-Sylvester, S.M. et al. Scientists’ warning to humanity on the freshwater biodiversity crisis. Ambio 50, 85–94 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01318-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01318-8

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