Almost a third of freshwater fish species are now threatened with extinction—yet it’s a crisis that has received far less attention than other environmental emergencies
The campaign specifically targets lands and oceans, without mentioning rivers. But that could soon be changing, according to its director, Brian O’Donnell. “All the reports describing the freshwater biodiversity crisis have provided a wake-up call for us and made it clear that explicit representation of freshwater areas needs to be part of the equation going forward,” O’Donnell says.
Perhaps most shocking is the loss of “mega-fishes”—so called because of their enormous size—whose populations have declined by 94 percent since 1970, including many species of now-critically endangered sturgeon. Many conservationists maintain that political and economic motives routinely trump biodiversity concerns when it comes to decision-making about rivers. “Very rarely is the full value of ecosystems factored into the planning for dams, for example,” says Ian Harrison, a freshwater specialist with Conservation International, and a contributor to the report released this week.