Freshwater-BON publishes science brief
Inland Waters Science Brief
The Freshwater-BON network describes 4 targets as recommendations for amending the text of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). They demand:
Explicit inclusion of inland water ecosystems in Post-2020 GBF goals, targets, and indicators to restore and safeguard these most threatened and least protected ecosystems and biodiversity on the planet.
Target 1 should be updated to “all terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas” to ensure consideration of inland waters within biodiversity-inclusive participatory spatial planning or other effective management processes.
In line with Goal A of increasing connectivity, integrity and area of natural ecosystems, Target 2 on ecosystem restoration needs to include inland water-specific objectives and use several rather than one single, potentially inappropriate, metric. At least 300,000 km of river length and at least 350 million hectares of inland waters, including coastal ecosystems should be under restoration by 2030.
Target 3 should be adjusted to read “... at least 30 per cent globally of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas ... are conserved through ... systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures ...”
Further they formulate key recommendations on monitoring and reporting for inland waters. They ask for:
Greater capacity for monitoring biodiversity and measuring ecological connectivity of inland waters.
Improved data infrastructures facilitating the access to freshwater biodiversity data.
To including citizen science, Indigenous science, and Indigenous Knowledge in monitoring, conservation and ecological restoration
Specific attention to needs for the different levels of biological organization represented by the three milestones under Goal A (Ecosystems, Species, Genes)
Citation:
GEO BON and FWBON, 2022. Inland Waters in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Available from https://geobon.org/science-briefs/.
Authors:
Eren Turak, David Dudgeon, Barbara Bendandi, Michele Thieme, Jennifer Lento, Matthew Simpson, David Tickner, Anila Ajayan, Christopher Dickens, Nigel Dudley, Pablo Gutiérrez-Fonseca, Margaret Hunter, Sonja Jähnig, Simon Linke, Jonathan Ready, Catherine Sayer, Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber, John Simaika, Thomas Starnes, Heidi van Deventer, Bethanie Walder.
Acknowledgements: Ian Harrison, Anthony Ricciardi.
Cover design:
Veronica Wrobel (GEO BON).
