Version 1
: Received: 18 January 2020 / Approved: 19 January 2020 / Online: 19 January 2020 (05:05:23 CET)
Version 2
: Received: 29 September 2020 / Approved: 30 September 2020 / Online: 30 September 2020 (03:56:50 CEST)
van Rees, C.B.; Waylen, K.A.; Schmidt‐Kloiber, A.; Thackeray, S.J.; Kalinkat, G.; Martens, K.; Domisch, S.; Lillebø, A.I.; Hermoso, V.; Grossart, H.; et al. Safeguarding Freshwater Life beyond 2020: Recommendations for the New Global Biodiversity Framework from the European Experience. Conservation Letters 2020, 14, doi:10.1111/conl.12771.
van Rees, C.B.; Waylen, K.A.; Schmidt‐Kloiber, A.; Thackeray, S.J.; Kalinkat, G.; Martens, K.; Domisch, S.; Lillebø, A.I.; Hermoso, V.; Grossart, H.; et al. Safeguarding Freshwater Life beyond 2020: Recommendations for the New Global Biodiversity Framework from the European Experience. Conservation Letters 2020, 14, doi:10.1111/conl.12771.
van Rees, C.B.; Waylen, K.A.; Schmidt‐Kloiber, A.; Thackeray, S.J.; Kalinkat, G.; Martens, K.; Domisch, S.; Lillebø, A.I.; Hermoso, V.; Grossart, H.; et al. Safeguarding Freshwater Life beyond 2020: Recommendations for the New Global Biodiversity Framework from the European Experience. Conservation Letters 2020, 14, doi:10.1111/conl.12771.
van Rees, C.B.; Waylen, K.A.; Schmidt‐Kloiber, A.; Thackeray, S.J.; Kalinkat, G.; Martens, K.; Domisch, S.; Lillebø, A.I.; Hermoso, V.; Grossart, H.; et al. Safeguarding Freshwater Life beyond 2020: Recommendations for the New Global Biodiversity Framework from the European Experience. Conservation Letters 2020, 14, doi:10.1111/conl.12771.
Abstract
Plans are currently being drafted for the next decade of action on biodiversity – both the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Biodiversity Strategy of the European Union (EU). Freshwater biodiversity is disproportionately threatened and under-prioritized relative to the marine and terrestrial biota, despite supporting a richness of species and ecosystems with their own intrinsic value and providing multiple essential ecosystem services. Future policies and strategies must have a greater focus on the unique ecology of freshwater life and its multiple threats, and now is a critical time to reflect on how this may be achieved. We identify priority topics including environmental flows, water quality, invasive species, integrated water resources management, strategic conservation planning, and emerging technologies for freshwater ecosystem monitoring. We synthesize these topics with decades of first-hand experience and recent literature into 14 special recommendations for global freshwater biodiversity conservation based on the successes and setbacks of European policy, management and research. Applying and following these recommendations will inform and enhance the ability of global and European post-2020 biodiversity agreements to halt and reverse the rapid global decline of freshwater biodiversity.
Keywords
climate change; sustainable development goals; wildlife; wetlands; water resources; ecosystem services
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Received:
30 September 2020
Commenter:
Charles van Rees
Commenter's Conflict of Interests:
Author
Comment:
Changes throughout manuscript after multiple stages of peer review (accepted/published version online soon at Conservation Letters). Changes include the addition of many references, improved clarity of complementation and contrast with Tickner et al. (2020), increased coverage of ecological flows, acknowledgment and discussion of the intrinsic value of biodiversity and the role of human-dominated landscapes and crenic habitats to freshwater biodiversity conservation, among many other changes.
Comment:
The final version of this manuscript was published 12th October 2020 in Conservation Letters and can be accessed here (open access): https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12771
Full reference:
van Rees CB, Waylen KA, Schmidt-Kloiber A, Thackeray SJ, Kalinkat G, Martens K, Domisch S, Lillebø AI, Hermoso V, Grossart H-P, Schinegger R, Decleer K, Adriaens T, Denys L, Jarić I, Janse JH, Monaghan MT, De Wever A, Geijzendorffer I, Adamescu MC, Jähnig SC (2020) Safeguarding freshwater life beyond 2020: Recommendations for the new global biodiversity framework from the European experience. Conservation Letters: e12771.
Commenter: Charles van Rees
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author
Commenter:
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: co-author
https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12771
Full reference:
van Rees CB, Waylen KA, Schmidt-Kloiber A, Thackeray SJ, Kalinkat G, Martens K, Domisch S, Lillebø AI, Hermoso V, Grossart H-P, Schinegger R, Decleer K, Adriaens T, Denys L, Jarić I, Janse JH, Monaghan MT, De Wever A, Geijzendorffer I, Adamescu MC, Jähnig SC (2020) Safeguarding freshwater life beyond 2020: Recommendations for the new global biodiversity framework from the European experience. Conservation Letters: e12771.