Freshwater biodiversity is the over-riding conservation priority during the International Decade for Action - 'Water for Life' - 2005 to 2015. Fresh water makes up only 0.01% of the World's water and approximately 0.8% of the Earth's surface, yet this tiny fraction of global water supports at least 100000 species out of approximately 1.8 million - almost 6% of all described species. Inland waters and freshwater biodiversity constitute a valuable natural resource, in economic, cultural, aesthetic, scientific and educational terms. Their conservation and management are critical to the interests of all humans, nations and governments. Yet this precious heritage is in crisis. Fresh waters are experiencing declines in biodiversity far greater than those in the most affected terrestrial ecosystems, and if trends in human demands for water remain unaltered and species losses continue at current rates, the opportunity to conserve much of the remaining biodiversity in fresh water will vanish before the 'Water for Life' decade ends in 2015. Why is this so, and what is being done about it? This article explores the special features of freshwater habitats and the biodiversity they support that makes them especially vulnerable to human activities. We document threats to global freshwater biodiversity under five headings: overexploitation; water pollution; flow modification; destruction or degradation of habitat; and invasion by exotic species. Their combined and interacting influences have resulted in population declines and range reduction of freshwater biodiversity worldwide. Conservation of biodiversity is complicated by the landscape position of rivers and wetlands as 'receivers' of land-use effluents, and the problems posed by endemism and thus non-substitutability. In addition, in many parts of the world, fresh water is subject to severe competition among multiple human stakeholders. Protection of freshwater biodiversity is perhaps the ultimate conservation challenge because it is influenced by the upstream drainage network, the surrounding land, the riparian zone, and - in the case of migrating aquatic fauna - downstream reaches. Such prerequisites are hardly ever met. Immediate action is needed where opportunities exist to set aside intact lake and river ecosystems within large protected areas. For most of the global land surface, trade-offs between conservation of freshwater biodiversity and human use of ecosystem goods and services are necessary. We advocate continuing attempts to check species loss but, in many situations, urge adoption of a compromise position of management for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem functioning and resilience, and human livelihoods in order to provide a viable long-term basis for freshwater conservation. Recognition of this need will require adoption of a new paradigm for biodiversity protection and freshwater ecosystem management - one that has been appropriately termed 'reconciliation ecology'.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/96AA265E3D88C95FB802E7A73CCB4332/S1464793105006950a.pdf/div-class-title-freshwater-biodiversity-importance-threats-status-and-conservation-challenges-div.pdf

Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges

Sustainable Development Goals

Freshwater scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk. Previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture the seasonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability. We assess blue water scarcity globally at a high spatial resolution on a monthly basis. We find that two-thirds of the global population (4.0 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. Nearly half of those people live in India and China. Half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year round. Putting caps to water consumption by river basin, increasing water-use efficiencies, and better sharing of the limited freshwater resources will be key in reducing the threat posed by water scarcity on biodiversity and human welfare.

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Four billion people facing severe water scarcity

▶ Addresses a wide range of timely environment, economic and energy topics ▶ A forum to review, analyze and stimulate the development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional, national and global scales ▶ Contributes to real-time policy analysis and development as national and international policies and agreements are discussed and promulgated ▶ 94% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

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Research methods in social relations

This report aims to identify the current state of business water accounting and to design an accounting method for the business water footprint (BWF). It answers the following questions: (i) What are the main developments in sustainable business performance so far? (ii) What is the current state of business water accounting? (iii) How to design an accounting method for the business water footprint? And (iv) How to apply the method for existing situations? The term “business” is interpreted in this study in a broad sense, in order to include any form of enterprise, governmental or non-governmental organization or other form of business activity. Based on the methodology of the WF concept, this report designs an accounting method for the BWF. The method calculates the BWF per business unit, where a business unit is preferably a part of the business that produces one homogenous product (good or service) at one particular spot. The WF of a business unit is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used, directly and indirectly, to produce the goods and services delivered by that unit expressed in terms of the volume of freshwater use per year. The WF of a business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used directly or indirectly to run and support the business.

https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/5148033/Gerbens08business.pdf

Business water footprint accounting: a tool to assess how production of goods and services impacts on freshwater resources worldwide

This study quantifies and maps the water footprint of Kenya from both production and consumption perspectives and estimates the country’s virtual water export and import. Kenya’s virtual water export related to trade in agricultural products was 4.1 km3/y; its virtual water import was 4.0 km3/y. The average export earning per unit of water consumed or polluted in producing agricultural export products was USD 0.25/m3, while the average expenditure on imported commodities per unit of virtual water imported was USD 0.10/m3. In addition to increasing water productivity in crop production, Kenya can mitigate its water scarcity by increasing imports of water-intensive products such as cereals and exports of high-value products such as cut flowers, vegetables, spices and tea

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Water conservation through trade: the case of Kenya

. Meeting growing food demands while simultaneously shrinking the water footprint (WF) of agricultural production is one of the greatest societal challenges. Benchmarks for the WF of crop production can serve as a reference and be helpful in setting WF reduction targets. The consumptive WF of crops, the consumption of rainwater stored in the soil (green WF), and the consumption of irrigation water (blue WF) over the crop growing period varies spatially and temporally depending on environmental factors like climate and soil. The study explores which environmental factors should be distinguished when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of crops. Hereto we determine benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of winter wheat production in China for all separate years in the period 1961–2008, for rain-fed vs. irrigated croplands, for wet vs. dry years, for warm vs. cold years, for four different soil classes, and for two different climate zones. We simulate consumptive WFs of winter wheat production with the crop water productivity model AquaCrop at a 5 by 5 arcmin resolution, accounting for water stress only. The results show that (i) benchmark levels determined for individual years for the country as a whole remain within a range of ±20 % around long-term mean levels over 1961–2008, (ii) the WF benchmarks for irrigated winter wheat are 8–10 % larger than those for rain-fed winter wheat, (iii) WF benchmarks for wet years are 1–3 % smaller than for dry years, (iv) WF benchmarks for warm years are 7–8 % smaller than for cold years, (v) WF benchmarks differ by about 10–12 % across different soil texture classes, and (vi) WF benchmarks for the humid zone are 26–31 % smaller than for the arid zone, which has relatively higher reference evapotranspiration in general and lower yields in rain-fed fields. We conclude that when determining benchmark levels for the consumptive WF of a crop, it is useful to primarily distinguish between different climate zones. If actual consumptive WFs of winter wheat throughout China were reduced to the benchmark levels set by the best 25 % of Chinese winter wheat production (1224 m3 t−1 for arid areas and 841 m3 t−1 for humid areas), the water saving in an average year would be 53 % of the current water consumption at winter wheat fields in China. The majority of the yield increase and associated improvement in water productivity can be achieved in southern China.

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Benchmark levels for the consumptive water footprint of crop production for different environmental conditions: a case study for winter wheat in China

The water footprint of bio-energy: Global water use for bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, heat and electricity

Water pollution by pharmaceuticals is widespread, causing both environmental and human health risks. We assess pharmaceutical water pollution from human and veterinary pharmaceuticals at three geographical levels: global, national (considering Germany and the Netherlands) and catchment level (with a case study for the Vecht catchment shared by Germany and the Netherlands). The grey water footprint (GWF), a measure of water pollution in volumetric terms, is estimated from pharmaceutical loads entering the aquatic environment, considering different pollutant sources and pathways. We study different substances depending on data availability, which varies across geographical levels. Results show a global per capita GWF of 1900 m3 yr−1 resulting from human consumption of ciprofloxacin. The largest GWFs in both Germany and the Netherlands were found for ethinylestradiol for human and amoxicillin for veterinary use. The estimated per capita GWF from human use of ethinylestradiol is 2300 m3 yr−1 for Germany and 11,300 m3 yr−1 for the Netherlands. The per capita GWFs of German and Dutch consumers of animal products are 12,900 and 10,600 m3 yr−1, respectively. For the Vecht catchment, we estimate the water pollution level per sub-catchment by comparing the GWF to available runoff, which enables us to identify geographic hotspots. In the basin as a whole, GWFs from human and veterinary pharmaceuticals both exceed available runoff. At all levels, pharmaceutical water pollution substantially adds to earlier water footprint studies that excluded this type of pollution, which demonstrates the importance to include pharmaceutics in water footprint studies.

Arjen Ysbert Hoekstra

Papers

Business water footprint accounting: a tool to assess how production of goods and services impacts on freshwater resources worldwide

Water conservation through trade: the case of Kenya

Benchmark levels for the consumptive water footprint of crop production for different environmental conditions: a case study for winter wheat in China

The water footprint of bio-energy: Global water use for bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, heat and electricity

The grey water footprint of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals.