Transcript Ramsar Presentation - Geneva Environment Network

Global Biodiversity Outlook 3 Launch
The 2010 Biodiversity
target and the status of
Inland Water Ecosystems
Ramsar wetland type classification
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
addresses all wetlands - from the
mountains to the sea:
• Inland Wetlands
• Human-made wetlands
• Marine/Coastal Wetlands
Scope of Inland waters
• Inland waters include rivers, lakes, floodplains,
including flooded forests, Freshwater springs
(oases), fishponds, marshes, swamps, peatlands,
inland deltas, and inland saline systems.
Geothermal wetlands, Karst and other
subterranean hydrological systems, Irrigated land;
Water storage areas such as
(reservoirs/barrages/dams/impoundments,
Wastewater treatment areas.
UNEP GEO-4 and water
• MA’s stark messages reinforced by GEO-4:
– c 70% available water is already taken by
irrigation
– Meeting MDG on hunger will mean doubling food
production by 2050
– Freshwater is declining:
• but by 2025 water use predicted to rise by 50%
in developing countries; 18% in developed
world
“The escalating burden of water demand will become
intolerable in water-scarce countries”
Inland-water dependent species
riskR
• wetlands, both coastal and inland, and the
many species depending upon them, continue
to be in particularly serious decline –
threatening their capacity to provide their
huge range of benefits to people, and
threatening the health and livelihoods of
communities dependent on them
Inland-water dependent species at risk
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Plants 2,614
Insects >125,000
Molluscs >5,000
Crustaceans >14,000
Fishes >15,000
Reptiles 500
Amphibians 3,908
Waterbirds 868
Mammals.135
Wetlands biodiversity trends: shorebird
populations
population status index”:
4x faster rate of decline in recent
years compared with the rate of
decline between the 1980s and 1990s
BUT: status of Globally-threatened
populations improving – conservation
action
Shorebird population trends: flyway status in 2000s
0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7
Migratory
-0.8populations
Endemic
populations
Fisheries
• Overexploitation of fisheries
• inland fisheries is the capture
of wild stocks of primarily freshwater fish,
including migratory species that move
between fresh water and the oceans.
Decline of Fisheries
• According to FAO, although global production of
fish and fishery products continues to grow,
• the harvest from capture fisheries has
stagnated over the last decade.
• Today numerous fish stocks and species have
declined since their historical peaks, and some
have even collapsed, leading to urgent
• calls for more stringent management and the
establishment of protected areas
Overfishing of Inland waters
• Most discussion of the current fisheries crisis has
focused nearly exclusively on marine resources, and
to some extent on associated threats to marine
biodiversity, particularly those affecting charismatic
animals such as seabirds, marine turtles;
• The fisheries of inland waters have received only
slight consideration within global analyses
• overfishing in inland waters is occurring and is a
contributing factor to the decline of freshwater
biodiversity.
View of Fishery experts
• Inland fisheries provide much-needed
protein, jobs, and income, especially in
poor rural communities of developing
countries.
• Systematic overfishing of fresh waters is
largely unrecognized because of weak
reporting and because fishery declines
take place within a complex of other
pressures.
View of Fishery experts
• consequences of changes to the species,
size, and trophic composition of fish
assemblages are poorly understood.
• These complexities underlie the paradox that
overexploitation of a fishery may not be marked
by declines in total yield, even when individual
species and long-term sustainability are highly
threatened.
View of Fishery experts
In inland waters, most fisheries are small-scale
activities where the catch per capita is relatively
small and used mainly for subsistence purposes.
The lack of accurate reporting of these smallscale fisheries makes it difficult to describe their
status but it is generally felt that they are under
considerable pressure from loss and
degradation of habitat and overfishing.
View of Fishery experts
• One of the symptoms of intense fishing in
inland waters is the collapse of particular
stocks even as overall fish
production rises—a biodiversity crisis more
than a fisheries crisis.
Change in wetland extent - mangroves
• Except Asia –
increased rate of loss
Mangrove extent: annual rate of change 1980-2005
source: FAO 2007
0.2
0
1980-1990
1990-2000
2000-2005
-0.2
Annual rate of change %
– Few global assessments
for wetlands
– Earth Observation
(remote sensing) may
help soon
– FAO: mangrove area
1980-2005
– Progressive &
continuing area loss
– Rate of loss slower in
2000-2005 than
previously
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
Africa
Asia
-1.2
North & Central America
Oceania
-1.4
-1.6
South America
GLOBAL
We know what’s driving wetland ecosystem loss:
Land-use change impacts
Threats to
Ramsar
sites:
Agricultural impacts
Water regulation
impacts
MOST OF US AGREE….
•Climate Change IS
happening
• It will likely get worse
•Human behaviour is partly
to blame
•Wetlands will be affected –
some impacts …
Carbon storage in wetlands (and
In their overall global area, some (intact) ecosystems major carbon stores:
other ecosystems)
600
Global carbon stocks (*1015 gC) Soil
500
400
300
200
100
0
Global carbon stocks (*1015 gC) Plants
Securing sustainable water & wetlands
– where are we now?
• We know what we need to do …
– Maintain wetland and other ecosystems for
their key water & other services, and
– Restore degraded wetlands to reinstate their
key services to people
• We (think we) know how to do it …
– Much knowledge and work on environmental
water requirements and restoring degraded
ecosystems etc.
– Governmental and intergovernmental (Ramsar
etc) processes to support responses
The way forwards?
• Since conserving (and restoring) wetlands is
essential for maintaining their services for
human well-being and poverty reduction…
• Water resources management and spatial
planning schemes need to be based on an
integrated ecosystem-based approach –
landscape & basin scales
– But is “Integrated” water
resource/river basin management
really yet integrated across sectors??
Integrating water & wetlands management
– where are we now?
Ramsar STRP’s recent RBM case study review findings:
Progress in integrating wetlands into land & water resources
planning and management at basin scale has been:
•
•
•
•
Slow
Successes hard-won over long periods
Mostly in smaller basins
Often needs incentive of (wetland) ecosystem
collapse to generate collaborative planning &
management
• Suite of generic ‘obstacles & challenges’
– but numerous creative local solutions
The way forwards?
• Better encouragement and
empowerment to local people and
communities to value and maintain their
healthy wetlands for water
• More high level understanding and
commitment, to secure and implement
new forms of water and land-use
governance
– But changing deeply embedded
governance approaches after so
long being largely demanddriven is a major challenge
Securing wise use of water & wetlands
Some promising responses??
–
–
–
–
–
Securing “environmental water allocations (EWA)”
payments for ecosystem water
establishing legislative frameworks
introducing “caps” on water allocations
purchasing water rights etc.
Attractive … but really just ‘fixes’?
– Even with agreed “EWA”, ecosystems (wetlands) still the loser when water
scarce for direct use by people
– Water laws: still often adversarial - ecosystems must demonstrate and
‘justify’ their needs against other demands
– And inflexible for responding to a rapidly changing water climate
Securing sustainable water &
wetlands
• So: are we digging ourselves into an ever deeper (and drier)
hole by promoting these approaches as solutions, rather than
at best interim steps?
– When we continue to allocate much more water
than is available, from many basins
– and without enabling changes to water
governance
• Shift the paradigm:
– From wetlands (ecosystems) as competing users
of water
– to maintaining and wisely using wetlands as our
vital “natural water infrastructure”
Changwon Declaration
• Powerful key messages for decision-makers
managing other sectors (2not the biodiversityconverted”)
– Water
– Climate change
– Human health
– Energy
– Spatial (land-use) planning
– etc
The “Changwon Declaration” –
Key Messages: Water and wetlands
• There is an urgent need to change water governance
• Continuing with “business as usual” is no longer an option
– Our increasing demand for, and over-use of, water jeopardizes both
human well-being and the environment
– There is often not enough water to meet our direct human needs
and to maintain the wetlands we need
– Climate change is increasing uncertainty in water management and
making it more difficult to close the gap between water demand
and supply
The “Changwon Declaration” –
Key Messages: Water and wetlands
To close this “water gap”, we need to:
– use our available water more efficiently;
– stop our wetlands from becoming degraded or lost
– wisely manage our wetlands … wetlands are the major source of
water we have
MEAs ... response?... or cause?
Ramsar Convention,
CITES, CMS
Rio ConventionsCBD, UNFCCC, UNCCD
www.ramsar.org