21/04/2005 - On World
Water Day, WWF warns that Asia's river dolphin
populations are in severe decline due to polluted
waters, dams and entanglement in fishing nets
and has launched an initiative to save some
of the world's most threatened mammals.
According to the global conservation organization,
the threat is all the more worrying as these
endangered mammals are a key indicator of
a river's health and of the availability of
clean water for the people living along its
banks.
WWF lists industrial, agricultural and human
pollution, as well as the use of dams, which
restrict the dolphins movement as some of
the major threats facing the aquatic mammal.
Accidental catches by fishermen are also contributing
to the decline of dolphin populations.
“River dolphins are the ‘watchdogs’ of the
water,” said Jamie Pittock, Director of WWF's
Global Freshwater Programme. “The high levels
of toxic pollutants accumulating in their
bodies are a stark warning of poor water quality.
This is a problem for both dolphins and the
people dependent on these rivers.”
Latest evidence shows that the Yangtze River
dolphin is particularly threatened with only
13 individuals left in China’s largest river.
Another study by WWF-India revealed that there
are fewer than 2,000 Ganges River dolphins
along the 6,000km stretch of the Ganges and
Brahmaputra river system. A similar number
of Irrawaddy dolphins remain in Asia-Pacific
waters. While in Pakistan, there are no more
than 1,100 dolphins scattered in five populations.
River dolphins swim in some of the world’s
most densely populated river basins, including
the Ganges and Indus river basins, where one
tenth of the world’s people live.
“Clean water is not only vital for the survival
of the river dolphin, but also for the quality
of life for millions of the world’s poor,”
added Jamie Pittock. “Conserving biodiversity
and alleviating poverty are inextricably linked.”
WWF is working with authorities and local
people along the Ganges, Yangtze and Indus
rivers to improve water quality and dolphin
habitat. For example, through the WWF River
Dolphin Conservation initiative, local communities
are being encouraged not to pollute the river
with household detergents and to prevent toxic
run-off by using natural fertilizers, such
as cow manure. In the Ganges, such an initiative
has increased dolphin numbers from 22 to 42
over the past decade along a 164km stretch
of the river.
With one of the UN’s Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) being to halve the number of
people without safe water supplies and sanitation
by 2015, WWF is calling on governments, local
communities, water management agencies and
investors to protect areas of high biodiversity
to ensure that they provide clean water for
people and nature.
NOTES:
• Irrawaddy dolphins number fewer than 1,000
throughout their range in Southeast Asia.
Another 1,000 individuals are reported to
live within Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria.
All international commercial trade of the
species was banned in October 2004 at a meeting
of the Convention on International Trade of
Endangered Species (CITES).
• World Water Day, March 22, 2005 marked
the launch of the International Decade for
Action 'Water for Life'. The Decade will strive
in particular to ensure the participation
of women in water-related development efforts.
