Bending the Curve of Global Freshwater Biodiversity Loss: An Emergency Recovery Plan

Abstract

Despite their limited spatial extent, freshwater ecosystems host remarkable biodiversity, including one-third of all vertebrate species. This biodiversity is declining dramatically: Globally, wetlands are vanishing three times faster than forests, and freshwater vertebrate populations have fallen more than twice as steeply as terrestrial or marine populations. Threats to freshwater biodiversity are well documented but coordinated action to reverse the decline is lacking. We present an Emergency Recovery Plan to bend the curve of freshwater biodiversity loss. Priority actions include accelerating implementation of environmental flows; improving water quality; protecting and restoring critical habitats; managing the exploitation of freshwater ecosystem resources, especially species and riverine aggregates; preventing and controlling nonnative species invasions; and safeguarding and restoring river connectivity. We recommend adjustments to targets and indicators for the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals and roles for national and international state and nonstate actors.

A Common Approach to the Conservation of Threatened Island Vascular Plants: First Results in the Mediterranean Basin

“…The following four criteria were established: (1) the threat degree, referring to the inclusion of a plant species into a threat category of the global/regional IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List as at least "threatened" (thus corresponding to the IUCN categories CR, EN and VU), and the DD plant species has been additionally included as a precautionary approach [50][51][52][53]; (2) the "regional responsibility" criterion, indicating the greatest importance given to those species whose distribution is restricted to a specific territory, such as endemic plant species and plants deserving conservation interest for a given island (e.g., peripheral and isolated plant populations, PIPPs, etc.) [51,[53][54][55][56]; (3) the so-called "policy species", which include those taxa listed in the European (i.e., Habitat Directive), or in other specific national or regional laws/regulations [7,56]; and finally, (4) vascular plants linked to wetlands, habitats severely threatened by climate change or climatic instability and hosting species intrinsically unable to migrate to other sites [57].…”

A meeting framework for inclusive and sustainable science

“…We envision that a more inclusive and sustainable approach will not only reduce the inequities and carbon footprints, but become essential for the finding of solutions to complex multi-faceted challenges in sustainability sciences. These solutions are indeed urgently needed to find rapid science-based solutions for immediate problems, such as the current COVID-19 crisis 13 , but also for more persistent problems, such as to bend the curve in the ongoing biodiversity crisis 14 . ❐ Rosetta C. Blackman 1,2 , Andreas Bruder 3 , Francis J. Burdon 4 ,…”

Invasive crayfish alter the long‐term functional biodiversity of lotic macroinvertebrate communities

“…Freshwater ecosystems represent some of the most threatened habitats world‐wide, with biodiversity losses far exceeding marine and terrestrial environments (Reid et al., 2019; Tickner et al., 2020). Invasive species are widely recognized as one of the primary threats to biodiversity globally due to their wide‐ranging ecological effects for individual populations and communities of native taxa, through to entire ecosystem functioning (Carbonell et al., 2017; Flood, Duran, Barton, Mercado‐Molina, & Trexler, 2020).…”