"Environmental Future of Aquatic Ecosystems"
5th International Conference on Environmental Future
23 to 27 March 2003, ETH Zurich, Switzerland



Press release

Global Aquatic Ecosystems: in danger but not lost


An international conference held between the 23rd and 27th of March at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich addressed the global trends and future prospects of aquatic ecosystems. In many cases, the situation is critical, calling for political action at local, regional and international levels.


Nearly 160 scientists from around the world gathered in Zürich between the 23rd and 27th March for the 5th International Conference on Environmental Future on the "Environmental Future of Aquatic Ecosystems" of the Foundation for Environmental Conservation (FEC), in association with the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG). The conference identified major trends and future prospects for the world's 21 major aquatic ecosystems from rivers and lakes to coastal systems and the deep sea. Working groups then addressed local and regional differences in more detail and projected trends to the time horizon of 2025.

Conference participants concluded that freshwater and coastal ecosystems in particular are under increasing human pressures such as global warming, greater nutrient loads, water abstraction for irrigation, physical habitat destruction and salinization. Worldwide, large wetland areas are being drained for agriculture and urban development, over 40,000 large dams disrupt the connectivity of river networks, and in the sea sensitive organisms such as corals are declining at an alarming rate.

Conference delegates agreed that even heavily degraded ecosystems could recover if suitable conditions were restored. In the past such positive trends were often triggered by concerned groups of local individual and a closer look at water policy in Europe over past decades confirms that effective means are available to help counter trends. Through the Stockholm Convention of 1972, for example, a list of persistent organic pollutants such as PCB's were phased out, and the eutrophication of lakes was reduced and even reversed in some cases by a combination of upgraded water treatment plants and a ban on phosphorus in detergents. 

One of the unique aspects of this conference was that researchers from both freshwater and marine aquatic ecosystems were brought together. This facilitated a vast range of insights, identifying overarching issues pertinent to more than one system and highlighting management and policy recommendations to help restore, protect and/or conserve threatened ecosystems. From discussions one clear trend emerged: often it is not a lack of scientific information that prevents ecosystem restoration, protection and or biodiversity loss, but the political courage to test innovative approaches and learn from mistakes. The Water Framework Directive of the European Union which emphasises a catchment-scale approach to improve the ecological quality of rivers, lakes and coastal waters was held as proof by the delegates that imaginative approaches are possible.

Many of the ecosystem prognoses presented were based on research conducted in industrialised countries. The few contributions from scientists from developing countries emphasized that the preservation and long-term use of aquatic resources such as mangrove forests was only likely to be successful if efforts were initiated, developed, promoted and implemented by or in close collaboration with local communities. It also became clear that many of the threats faced by aquatic systems will vary depending on locality. Many systems in developing nations are experiencing accelerated losses due to unsustainable exploitation for basic needs and settlements of rapidly expanding human populations. Lack of economic strength, economic market failure, poor scientific and technological capacity and political instability were also highlighted as key elements contributing to the incapacity of less industrialised nations to use natural resources derived from aquatic systems sustainably. The conference delegates identified human population growth as a major continuing driving force behind aquatic ecosystem decline at a global level.

Global climate change is continuing to threaten a range of aquatic ecosystems and none more so than coral reefs. Rising seawater temperatures coupled with El Niño events are pushing corals over their thermal limits and with fishing and nutrient inputs are converting huge areas worldwide to algal cover with little potential for growth to meet rising sea level. The continuation of this trend leaves the future of coral reefs uncertain. The scientists also concluded that a global policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is fundamental to the future of aquatic ecosystems with targets far exceeding those of the Kyoto Protocol


Further Information:    http://www.icef.eawag.ch

Press contact:          [log in to unmask]
                                0191 222 6675

Junior Research Associate
Marine Science & Technology
University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 
Tel: +44 (0)191 222 5868

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