Cover_11.qxd 12/15/03 10:51 PM Page 1 Status and Trends ofStatus and Trends of Biodiversity Ecosystems Water Inland Secretariat Series No.CBD Technical 11 CBD Technical Series No. of the Convention on Biological Diversity Also available Issue 1: Assessment and Management of Alien Species that Threaten Ecosystems, Habitats and Species STATUS AND TRENDS OF BIODIVERSITY Issue 2: Review of the Efficiency and Efficacy of Existing Legal Instruments Applicable to Invasive Alien Species OF INLAND WATER ECOSYSTEMS Issue 3: Assessment, Conservation and Sustainable Use of Forest Biodiversity Issue 4: The Value of Forest Ecosystems Issue 5: Impacts of Human-Caused Fires on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning, and Their Causes in Tropical, Temperate and Boreal Forest Biomes 11 Issue 6: Sustainable Management of Non-Timber Forest Resources Issue 7: Review of the Status and Trends of and Major Threats to Forest Biological Diversity Issue 8: Status and Trends of and Threats to Mountain Biodiversity, Marine, Coastal and Inland Water Ecosystems: Abstracts of poster presentations at the eighth meeting of the Subsidiary Body of Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice of the Convention on Biological Diversity Issue 9: Facilitating Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity: Abstracts of poster presentations on protected areas and technology transfer and coopera- tion at the ninth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice Issue 10: Interlinkages Between Biological Diversity and Climate Change: Advice on the integration of biodiversity considerations into the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol CBD11_Interior_v04.qxd 12/19/03 6:03 PM Page i STATUS AND TRENDS OF BIODIVERSITY OF INLAND WATER ECOSYSTEMS December 2003 CBD11_Interior_v04.qxd 12/19/03 6:03 PM Page ii Status and trends of biodiversity of inland water ecosystems Published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Citation Biological Diversity ISBN: 92-807-2398-7 Revenga, C. and Y. Kura. 2003. Status and Trends of Biodiversity of Inland Water Ecosystems. Secretariat Copyright © 2003, Secretariat of the of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on Biological Diversity Montreal, Technical Series no. 11. The designations employed and the presentation For further information please contact: of material in this publication do not imply the Secretariat of the Convention expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part on Biological Diversity of the World Resources Institute, Wetlands World Trade Centre, 393 St. Jacques, Suite 300, International, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 1N9 Affairs (DGIS), the Bureau of the Ramsar Phone: 1 (514) 288 2220 Convention on Wetlands or the Secretariat of the Fax: 1 (514) 288 6588 Convention on Biological Diversity concerning the E-mail: [email protected] legal status of any country, territory, city or area or Website: http://www.biodiv.org of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Resources Institute, Wetlands International, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), the Bureau of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Wetlands International or the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This publication may be reproduced for educa- tional or non-profit purposes without special per- mission from the copyright holders, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity would appreciate receiving a copy of any publications that use this document as a source. ii CBD11_Interior_v04.qxd 12/19/03 6:03 PM Page iii Status and trends of biodiversity of inland water ecosystems FOREWORD That water is important to life on earth, including Convention”,was the first formal global inter-gov- for sustaining human populations, is self-evident ernment initiative to improve the sustainability of to most of us. What is less widely appreciated is life dependent upon inland waters. While the that out of the world’s total water resources, less Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) covers all than 3% is represented by freshwater and less than ecosystem types and geographical regions, it has 1% of that (less than 0.01% of total water) occurs identified “inland waters” as an immediately in the earths liquid surface freshwater (the remain- important thematic area of work. A considerable der being locked in ice-caps or as groundwater, number of local, national, regional and global ini- below the planet’s surface). This fraction of water tiatives are also now focussing directly or indirectly available on earth is home to an extraordinarily on conservation and sustainable use of inland high level of biodiversity that is directly supported waters, including many sponsored by non-govern- through a range of freshwater ecosystem types that ment organisations such as Wetlands International, includes running waters in rivers, standing waters IUCN — The World Conservation Union, The of lakes and marshes and areas of transient water WWF for Nature and BirdLife International. availability in seasonal or ephemeral wetlands. Our ability to identify the current status of, and These inland water ecosystems provide a vital range subsequently monitor, the biodiversity of inland of goods and services essential for sustaining waters and the ecosystem services they provide for human well-being. the planet is a fundamental requirement. If we can- The complexity, and variability in space and not do this, we cannot assess our progress towards time, of these ecosystems is still being documented meeting key conservation and sustainable use goals by scientists but their importance is unquestioned. in this important area. In recognition of this fact, Witness for example, the fact that all major civi- the Parties to the Convention on Biological lizations have evolved in association with river sys- Diversity have requested the Subsidiary Body on tems, as confirmed today by the location of most Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to major cities. Humans need freshwater not only for review this subject as a priority. We are pleased to drinking, but also for agriculture, industry, trans- present this review as a joint effort between the portation and many other important uses. But as Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar human populations have grown, and consumptive Convention to further illustrate their continued co- uses of water increased, our activities have taken operation towards achieving important common an enormous toll on the global freshwater goals, and especially as a contribution towards the resource. Not only are we over-consuming a very overall goal of the World Summit on Sustainable valuable and finite resource, and the life it sup- Development of significantly reducing the rate of ports, we are abusing it by, for example, allowing loss of biodiversity by 2010. pollution from activities on the land to flow into The subject matter in this document is com- rivers, to be transported for eventual dilution in plex. Data and information are often lacking or, at the sea, or to be accumulated in lakes and other best, difficult to access. We present this document as wetlands. It is not surprising that the stresses we neither a comprehensive nor a final text, but rather have placed upon inland waters have resulted in as a starting point. “Trends”, by definition, infer them now being considered amongst the most analysis over time. We hope that this document will threatened global ecosystems. be upgraded and updated on a regular basis. We are starting to take notice of these prob- lems, and have begun efforts to address them. Hamdallah Zedan Peter Bridgewater The Convention on Wetlands of International Impor- Executive Secretary Secretary General tance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar, Convention on Convention on Wetlands Iran, 1971), commonly referred to as the “Ramsar Biological Diversity (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) iii CBD11_Interior_v04.qxd 12/19/03 6:03 PM Page iv Status and trends of biodiversity of inland water ecosystems Acknowledgements The support of the World Resources Institute in Copyright for these verbatim sections remains with this process is acknowledged. Preparation of this the World Resources Institute. report was made possible through financial sup- The original draft was peer reviewed by a port from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs number of specialists at the Secretariat of the (DGIS) under the “Conservation and Wise Use of Convention on Biological Diversity, the Bureau of Wetlands — Global Programme” managed by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and Wetlands Wetlands International (WI) as part of a Grant International and externally. A number of special- Agreement between WI and the Bureau of the ists contributed additional materials to the report Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. It draws heavily during this process. The Secretariat of the on material previously published by the World Convention on Biological Diversity wishes to Resources Institute and contains sections previ- acknowledge all these efforts in the production of ously published in Revenga, C., J. Brunner, N. this document. Henninger, K. Kassem, and R. Payne. 2000. Pilot analysis of global ecosystems: freshwater systems. Hamdallah Zedan World Resources Institute, Washington DC. Executive Secretary iv CBD11_Interior_v04.qxd