2 - LESSONS FROM A GLOBAL REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW SUCCESS STORIES 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Citation: Harwood, A., Johnson, S., Richter, B., Locke, A., Yu, X. and Tickner, D. 2017. We would like to thank the following participants who generously donated their time to participate in Listen to the river: Lessons from a global review of environmental flow success stories, the oral case study interviews and provide written comments on the interview notes and case study WWF-UK, Woking, UK synopses. Their viewpoints and input are fundamental to this report and we are grateful for their time and expertise: Eric Krueger (The Nature Conservancy), Harry Shelley (Savannah River Basin Advisory Council), ABOUT WWF Stan Simpson (United States Army Corps of Engineers), Andy Warner (CDM Smith, formerly The At WWF, we believe that a living planet – from the global climate to local environments – is vital Nature Conservancy), Ian Atkinson (International River Foundation, formerly Nature Foundation not only for wildlife, but also as the source of our food, clean water, health and livelihoods. And as South Australia), Andrew Beal (Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, South a source of inspiration, now and for future generations. So we’re tackling critical environmental Australia), John Foster (Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, Australia), Tom Rooney challenges and striving to build a world with a future where people and nature thrive. (Waterfind Australia and Healthy Rivers Australia), Hilton Taylor (Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, Australia), Jin Chen (Changjiang Water Resources Commission), Hai Wang (China To do this, we’re educating, inspiring, influencing and engaging the public, policy-makers, business Three Gorges Corporation), the Office of Fisheries Law Enforcement for the Yangtze River Basin leaders and influencers. In particular, we’re strengthening our voice at the heart of decision-making (Ministry of Agriculture, PR China), Richard Aylard (Thames Water), Charlotte Hitchmough in the rapidly-growing economies of the global South and East. These are becoming ever more (Action for the River Kennet), Rose O’Neill (Natural England, formerly WWF-UK), Graham significant as they gain greater economic and political influence and use a larger proportion of the Scholey (Environment Agency), Brian Jackson (formerly Inkomati Usuthu Catchment Management world’s natural resources. And they’re located in regions where much of the world’s most important Agency), Jackie King (Water Matters, formerly University of Cape Town), Eddie Riddell (Kruger biodiversity is concentrated. National Park), Dawie van Rooy (Crocodile River Irrigation Board), Eugenio Barrios (WWF- Mexico), Víctor Hugo Vázquez Morán (National Protected Areas Commission, Mexico), Mario We’re engaging the business community – especially in sectors we believe can make the greatest López Pérez (Mexican Institute of Water Technology, formerly National Water Commission, difference – to encourage global companies to become stewards of the natural world their activities Mexico), Sergio Salinas-Rodríguez (WWF-Mexico), Mark Kunzer (Asian Development Bank), depend on. And we’re working to ensure that governments in the UK and EU are environmental Jahanzeb Murad (Mira Power), Muhammad Razzaq (Environmental Protection Agency, Azad champions – particularly when it comes to policies on climate and energy, marine issues and Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan), Vinod Tare (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and Centre for international development. Ganga River Basin Management Studies), AK Ojha (formerly Uttar Pradesh Irrigation and Water Resource Department), Niraj Agarwal (Tehri Hydro Electric Corporation). In addition, we are grateful to the following people for their assistance in completing the case studies: Lin Cheng for assistance in conducting the interviews for the Yangtze River case study; Freek Venter for background material for the Crocodile River case study; Ignacio Daniel González Mora and Sergio Salinas-Rodríguez for their assistance with translation for the San Pedro Mezquital River case study; Jackie King and Vaqar Zakaria for their recommendations on suitable participants and their assistance in providing contact details for the Poonch River case study; Nitin Kaushal for conducting the interviews for the Ganga River case study, and his colleague, Suresh Babu, for assisting with review of ABOUT ECOFISH the transcribed notes. Ecofish are a specialist consultancy that provides a fully integrated, technical and scientifically robust service. Technical services include: environmental impact assessment (EIA), ecology, We would also like to extend our gratitude to members of the global WWF expert team, to members ornithology, hydrology & flood risk, river modelling & fish pass solutions, fish & fisheries monitoring, of the External Advisory Group and other experts in the field of environmental flow implementation fish rescue, marine science & mitigation, underwater acoustics, environmental auditing & compliance who generously contributed their time and expert knowledge in suggesting and reviewing case and geographical information systems (GIS). studies, reviewing drafts of this report, supporting its dissemination and otherwise contributing valuable insights: WWF: Suresh Babu, Christopher Bonzi, Julia Brändle, Jian-hua Meng, Eva Hernandez, Sergio Salinas, Michele Thieme, Christine Colvin, Loreen Katiyo, Raquel Filgueiras, Nitin Kaushal, Disclaimer: This report is based on a technical paper prepared by Ecofish Research Ltd. for Nigel Parratt, Sean Hoobin, James Casey, Francesca Antonelli, Lin Cheng, William Ojwang, WWF-UK. The material in it reflects the best judgement of Ecofish Research Ltd. and WWF-UK in Belinda Lip, Bart Geenen, Jeff Opperman, Patricia Schelle, Stuart Orr, Cat Moncrieff, Rose O’Neill, light of the information available at the time of preparation. Any use which a third party makes of Dean Muruven, Richard Lee, Claire Bramley, Alexis Morgan, Philip Leonard, Jessie Schwarz, this report, or any reliance on or decisions to be made based on it, is the responsibility of such third Sohail Ali Naqvi, Lifeng Li. parties. Ecofish Research Ltd. and WWF-UK accept no responsibility for damages, if any, suffered by any third party as a result of decisions made or actions, based on this report. External Advisory Group and others: Stuart Bunn, Mike Acreman, Jackie King, Jay O’Keeffe, Mike McClain, Nate Matthews, Dustin Garrick, Robert Speed, Bill Young, Yasmin Siddiqi, By making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area, or by using Ian Atkinson, Laura Martínez Ríos Del Río, Richard Taylor, Andre Fourie, Rebecca Tharme, the term ‘country’ in this document, WWF-UK and Ecofish Research Ltd do not intend to make any John Hickey, Eloise Kendy, Stefano Barchiesi, Natalie Baker, Angela Arthington, Cate Brown. judgements as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. Finally, we thank Guy Jowett, Evan Jeffries, Kim Collins and Matt Scott for their capable assistance with editing and design of this report. 4 - LESSONS FROM A GLOBAL REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW SUCCESS STORIES 5 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 1 INTRODUCTION 14 2 E-FLOWS: A RECAP 15 2.1 WHAT DO WE MEAN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT E-FLOWS? 15 2.2 HOW DO WE DETERMINE E-FLOWS? 20 2.3 THE IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGE 22 3 CASE STUDIES OF SUCCESS 24 3.1 RESEARCH APPROACH 24 3.2 SUSTAINABLE RIVERS PROGRAM, UNITED STATES 28 3.3 MURRAY-DARLING BASIN, AUSTRALIA 36 3.4 THREE GORGES DAM, YANGTZE RIVER, CHINA 46 3.5 RIVER KENNET, ENGLAND 54 3.6 CROCODILE RIVER, SOUTH AFRICA 62 3.7 SAN PEDRO MEZQUITAL RIVER, MEXICO 70 3.8 POONCH RIVER, PAKISTAN 78 3.9 GANGA RIVER, INDIA 84 4. LESSONS FROM THE PAST, PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE 94 4.1. ENABLING FACTORS AND TRIGGERS 94 4.2 OVERCOMING IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES 98 4.3 IMPORTANCE OF MONITORING AND ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT 103 4.4 LESSONS LEARNED 104 5. CONCLUSIONS 109 REFERENCES 110 © JIRI REZAC / WWF-UK 6 - LESSONS FROM A GLOBAL REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW SUCCESS STORIES 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Worldwide freshwater supplies are increasingly being exploited due to growing demands for water from a rising population and the needs of agriculture, industry, and towns and cities. It is estimated that one-third of the world’s river basins are being heavily depleted, and water scarcity is now affecting one-half of the global population and three-quarters of all irrigated areas (Brauman et al. 2016). Furthermore, changes to river flow regimes are likely the single biggest factor in the 81% decline in freshwater species populations since 1970, as measured by the Freshwater Living Planet Index. This is double the decline observed in the world’s marine and terrestrial species (WWF 2016). Globally, natural river flows have been altered by a proliferation of dams, changing land use and urbanisation, and over-abstraction of water. Poor water governance has enabled, and now compounds, these threats, which are also likely to be exacerbated by the effects of climate change. The year 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the Brisbane Declaration on Environmental Flows. This declaration was crafted at the 2007 Riversymposium and advocates for environmental flow (e-flow) protection and restoration. Since that time, governments and water management authorities across the globe have made significant progress towards developing policies and regulations, and taken myriad actions, to protect and restore e-flows. These efforts have faced significant challenges, including a