21st
March 2005
River Dolphins
in freshwater battle against extinction,
WWF warns
Lahore - On the eve
of World Water Day, WWF - Pakistan
warns that the Indus River Dolphin's
population is in severe decline
due to polluted water, fragmented
population due to barrages, strandings
in the irrigation canals due to
water diversion and entanglement
in fishing nets and has taken an
initiative to save one of the world's
most endangered mammal.
According to the global conservation
organisation, this is all the more
worrying as river dolphins are the
key indicators of a river's health
and of the availability of clean
water for the people living along
its banks. WWF - Pakistan lists
industrial, agricultural and human
pollution, as well as the use of
dams/barrages, which restrict the
dolphins movement as some of the
major threats facing the aquatic
mammal. Accidental catches by fishermen
and strandings in the irrigation
canals are also contributing to
the decline of dolphin populations.
"River dolphins are the 'watchdogs'
of the water," said Hammad
Naqi Khan, Director of WWF - Pakistan's
Freshwater and Toxics Programme.
"The high levels of toxic pollutants
accumulating in their bodies are
a stark warning of poor water quality.
This is a problem for both dolphins
and the people dependent on these
rivers. Indus dolphins can be saved
from extinction if we act now, and
in doing so, we will help improve
the water quality and flows to sustain
livelihoods of people and maintain
ecological health of the River."
Latest evidence shows that the Indus
River Dolphin is the second most
endangered dolphin species after
the Yangtze River in China's largest
river. The survey led by WWF-Pakistan
and Sindh and Punjab Wildlife Departments
revealed that there are fewer than
1,100 Indus River dolphins along
the 1,300 km stretch of the Indus
river system that are divided into
five populations due to the presence
of six barrages on the Indus River.
River dolphins swim in some of the
world's most densely populated river
basins, including the Ganges and
Indus river basins, where one tenth
of the world's people live.
"Clean water is not only vital
for the survival of the river dolphin,
but also for the quality of life
for millions of the Pakistan's poor,"
added Hammad Naqi Khan. "Conserving
biodiversity and alleviating poverty
reduction are inextricably linked
and cannot be achieved without the
enforcement of regulatory framework."
WWF - Pakistan is working with authorities
and local people along the Indus
River to improve water quality and
dolphin habitat through the Indus
River Dolphin Conservation Project,
local communities are being encouraged
not to pollute the river with household
detergents and to prevent toxic
run-off by using natural fertilisers,
such as cow manure. Further, it
is working with the local communities
and Sindh Wildlife Department to
rescue stranded dolphins from the
irrigation canals.
With one of the UN's Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) being to
halve the number of people without
safe water supplies and sanitation
by 2015, WWF is calling on governments,
local communities, water management
agencies and investors to protect
areas of high biodiversity to ensure
that they provide clean water for
people and nature.
For
further information:
Amjad Aslam, WWF – Pakistan,
Ferozepur Road, Lahore.
UAN:
111-WWF-PAK(993-725)
Tel: +92 42 5862360, 5869429,
Fax: 042 5862358,
e-mail: aaslam@wwf.org.pk
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