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Multinational, Freshwater Biomonitoring Programs in the Developing World: Lessons Learned from African and Southeast Asian River Surveys

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Abstract

Biomonitoring programs are widely used in developed countries. They also offer many advantages in assessing ecological consequences of perturbations in developing countries, including reducing the equipment-operation, maintenance, and training costs associated with physicochemical monitoring. Three case histories of river biomonitoring using freshwater organisms (fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, diatoms, zooplankton) are described that involve (1) documentation of environmental effects from long-term, large-scale applications of insecticides to control insect-vectors of river blindness (onchocerciasis) in 11 West African countries; (2) water quality assessments and restoration planning in and around national parks in three East African countries; and (3) evaluation of overall ecological health of the Lower Mekong River in four Southeast Asian countries. As in developed countries, benthic macroinvertebrates are the organisms most widely used in biomonitoring in developing countries. Conflicting opinions of system resilience and whether expected changes are within natural variation may result in differences in underlying hypotheses proposed, study designs implemented, and study execution; each may lead to uncorrectable bias. Direct transfers of approaches used from developed to developing countries are often appropriate; however, techniques dependent on pollution-tolerance values are often region specific and not transferable. Typically expressed concerns about applications of biomonitoring in developing countries include poor coordination among agencies; lack of legislation, identification keys, and trained personnel; and incomplete information on how tropical rivers function. Problems are real but solvable, as evident from accomplishments in several multicountry programs in developing countries. Developed countries requiring coordinated monitoring of international rivers may benefit from examining successful programs under way in developing countries.

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Acknowledgments

I thank my colleagues in the biomonitoring case histories described above, especially Bernhard Statzner, Ian Campbell, and Bruce Chessman, for their insights into the complex issues raised in this article, and David Rosenberg and James Carter for their comments on the manuscript. Funds for the biomonitoring programs described above were provided by various donor nations and organizations to the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa of the World Health Organization (United Nations), the Mekong River Commission, and the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program.

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  1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management, University of California, 137 Mulford Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3114, USA

    Vincent H. Resh

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Correspondence to Vincent H. Resh.

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Resh, V.H. Multinational, Freshwater Biomonitoring Programs in the Developing World: Lessons Learned from African and Southeast Asian River Surveys. Environmental Management 39, 737–748 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-006-0151-8

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