WWF has been in touch to encourage a global call to action on freshwater biodiversity. They write:
WWF invites you to sign an open letter to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) calling for urgent action to ensure that the new global framework for nature elevates freshwater habitats to equal status with ‘land and ocean’.
There is some urgency to this. The CBD will convene critical discussions about the draft global biodiversity framework in two weeks’ time, so we need to gather as many signatories as possible to the letter by 18th March. Please share this invitation widely among your colleagues and contacts and on social media.
The letter calls on governments to ensure that the new global framework…
- Enshrines ‘land, freshwater and sea’ throughout the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, replacing all blinkered references to ‘land and sea’:
- Incorporates a clear call to protect and restore connectivity, which is central to the health of rivers and other freshwater ecosystems
- Incorporates targets linked to the pillars of the Sustainable Freshwater Transition as outlined in the CBD’s 5th Global Biodiversity Outlook:
- Protect and restore critical wetland habitats;
- Integrate environmental flows into water management policy and practice;
- Combat pollution and improve water quality;
- Prevent overexploitation of freshwater species and resources; and
- Prevent and control alien invasive species.
The sign up page for the letter is at https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/freshwater_practice/call_for_freshwater_action_cbd_open_letter_/.
