Rivers Under Threat
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ASIA
Yangtze:China
Mekong:China,Myanmar,Thailand,Laos,Cambodia and Vietnam
Ganges:India
Salween:China,Thailand and Myanmar
Indus: Pakistan
AFRICA
Nile:Egypt
EUROPE
Danube:From Germany through South-east Europe to the Black Sea
LATIN AMERICA
Rio Granade:Along the US-Mexican border
La Plata:Argentina and Uruguay
AUSTRALIA
Murray-Darling
I feel that if everyone have a heart for the environment and think twice before they do something where nature is concern,it will prevent more environmental damage
Discuss here -
got peekture to show before and after?
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Yangtze River in the past
Yangtze River now
an example -
wa! reverse of sg river leh.
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Mighty rivers running dry
Dams, climate change among threats facing Asia's waterways
Wednesday • March 21, 2007
GENEVA — Five rivers in Asia serving over 870 million people are among the most threatened in the world, as dams, water extraction and climate change all take their toll, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said yesterday.
The Yangtze, Salween-Nu, Indus, Ganges and Mekong-Lancang rivers make up half of the WWF's 10 most threatened river basins, which "either already suffer most grievously under the weight of these threats or are bracing for the heaviest impacts", the WWF said in a report.
Governments are not doing enough to prevent freshwater systems from being overexploited, the WWF said. As a result, about a fifth of the world's 10,000 freshwater species have either become extinct or are now endangered.
Only 21 of Earth's 177 longest rivers run freely from source to sea, with dams and other forms of human construction destroying the habitats of migratory fish and other species by altering the water's natural ebb and flow.
The director of the WWF's Global Freshwater Programme, Mr Jamie Pittock, said the threats facing river basins are varied and interlinked. He said these problems require holistic policies, rather than efforts that target just one aspect but can end up being counter-productive.
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 more dams, which kill off fish populations, he added.
He warned of "dire consequences" if the situation is left unchecked, with increasing risk of conflict over access to water, as well as the spread of disease and a fall in nutrition standards.
The report highlighted water extraction, dams and climate change as the threats that will have the most impact on people, though invasive species and pollution also pose serious problems. This is particularly true for China's Yangtze River basin. Decades of industrialisation, damming and the huge influx of sediment from land conversion, have made the Yangtze one of the world's most polluted rivers. — AGENCIES -
Mighty rivers running dry
thanks for this
Dams, climate change among threats facing Asia's waterways
Wednesday • March 21, 2007
GENEVA — Five rivers in Asia serving over 870 million people are among the most threatened in the world, as dams, water extraction and climate change all take their toll, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said yesterday.
The Yangtze, Salween-Nu, Indus, Ganges and Mekong-Lancang rivers make up half of the WWF's 10 most threatened river basins, which "either already suffer most grievously under the weight of these threats or are bracing for the heaviest impacts", the WWF said in a report.
Governments are not doing enough to prevent freshwater systems from being overexploited, the WWF said. As a result, about a fifth of the world's 10,000 freshwater species have either become extinct or are now endangered.
Only 21 of Earth's 177 longest rivers run freely from source to sea, with dams and other forms of human construction destroying the habitats of migratory fish and other species by altering the water's natural ebb and flow.
The director of the WWF's Global Freshwater Programme, Mr Jamie Pittock, said the threats facing river basins are varied and interlinked. He said these problems require holistic policies, rather than efforts that target just one aspect but can end up being counter-productive.
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 more dams, which kill off fish populations, he added.
He warned of "dire consequences"; if the situation is left unchecked, with increasing risk of conflict over access to water, as well as the spread of disease and a fall in nutrition standards.
The report highlighted water extraction, dams and climate change as the threats that will have the most impact on people, though invasive species and pollution also pose serious problems. This is particularly true for China's Yangtze River basin. Decades of industrialisation, damming and the huge influx of sediment from land conversion, have made the Yangtze one of the world's most polluted rivers. — AGENCIES -
wa! reverse of sg river leh.
sg rivers clean up to attract tourists
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Say no to population growth!
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den our singapore river how?
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den our singapore river how?
It has become much cleaner -
Well, it might not help.Originally posted by Kuali Baba:Say no to population growth!
As long as the mess stays, it will attract the growth of algae. This will adversely affect the ecosystem. When everything is wiped out, the Earth is nothing but a dead planet.