Many Major Rivers in Danger of Drying Out – WWF

Many major rivers in the world are at risk of drying out because of climate change and dam construction, which could affect fresh water supplies and marine life, the global nature protection body WWF said on Tuesday.

In a report ahead of the March 22 ‘World Water Day’, the Swiss-based group identified 10 rivers, including the Nile, the Rio Grande and the Danube, as some of the worst victims of poor planning and inadequate protection.
“Rivers regularly no longer reach the sea, like the Indus in Pakistan, the Nile in Africa and the Rio Grande … There are millions of people whose livelihoods are at risk,” said Jamie Pittock, director of WWF’s global freshwater programme.

Rivers are the world’s main source of fresh water, and about half of the available supply is already being used up, he said.

Dams have destroyed habitats and cut rivers off from their flood plains, while climate change could alter the rules by which rivers have lived by for thousands of years, the report said.

Planet Ark