5 Asian rivers under threat

Dams, pollution and climate change draining water sources

CAUSING RIPPLES: Overfishing is the main threat facing the Mekong River, which runs through China, Myanmar, Thailand Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. -- AFP


GENEVA - FIVE rivers in Asia serving more than 870 million people are among the world's most endangered because of human activity and climate change, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said yesterday.

The Yangtze, Salween- Nu, Indus, Ganges and Mekong-Lancang rivers make up half the WWF's 'top 10' river basins which 'either already suffer most grievously under the weight of these threats or are bracing for the heaviest impacts', the leading conservation group said.

The others are on the list are the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo and La Plata in Latin America, the Danube in central Europe, the Nile-Lake Victoria in Africa and the Murray-Darling in Australia.

The WWF's 53-page report highlighted water extraction, dams and climate change as the most wide- ranging threats that will have the biggest impact on people. Invasive species and pollution were also cited as posing serious problems.

About a fifth of the world's 10,000 freshwater species have either become extinct or are now endangered.

'The freshwater crisis... mirrors the extent to which unabated development is jeopardising nature's ability to meet our growing demands,' said Mr Jamie Pittock, who heads the WWF's freshwater programme.

China's Yangtze River, the WWF report said, 'faces unprecedented pollution as a result of rapid, large-scale industrial and domestic development, and agricultural runoff'.

Sewage, industrial waste and shipping discharge have increased pollution levels in the main stem of the Yangtze by 73 per cent over the past five decades, making the river a major casualty of China's rapidly expanding industrial development.

At the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project, which spans the Yangtze in central China, 'garbage heaps, boat effluent, pig and animal waste, discharge from factories, hospitals and mines containing hazardous and possibly radioactive waste sink to the bottom of the reservoir and create serious pollution', the WWF added.

Over-fishing is the main threat facing the Mekong, which runs through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Dams and infrastructure projects imperil freshwater habitats in the Salween that meanders pass China, Thailand and Myanmar.

The La Plata and Danube basins also face similar man-made problems, the WWF added.

The threats facing river basins are varied and interlinked, said Mr Pittock.

For example, 'as governments become concerned about climate change reducing water run-off, they build more dams to store more water, which then results in more water being extracted from the rivers and so builds up more ecological problems', Mr Pittock said.

Many governments are also focusing on hydro-electric power plants as a 'clean' source of energy, but this means building more dams.

As a result, only 21 of the planet's 177 longest rivers run freely from source to sea.

The problems require holistic policies, Mr Pittock said, rather than efforts that target just one aspect but can end up being counterproductive.

'Nearly everybody in the world lives in a river basin and everybody has a contribution to make' to prevent further environmental damage, he said.

He said it was imperative that countries and corporations addressed these issues. He praised work already done by the Chinese.

'The Chinese government has been very active globally, consulting with a range of experts. They have not turned the corner on the ground yet. The policies they are putting in place have the potential to do so very soon,' he said.

The WWF official warned of 'dire consequences' if the situation was left unchecked, with increasing risk of conflict over access to water, as well as the spread of disease and a fall in nutrition standards.

For example, the Nile, the world's longest river that has served as a drinking water source for thousands of years, will face scarcity by 2025, the report said.

'In many places, people are not familiar with the scale of the problem...it is critical that people are involved,' Mr Pittock said.