Rivers at Risk

WWF has released a report identifying the top 10 at-risk rivers in the world, and citing the key source of risk for each. Though the report assembles a respectable list of troubled waterways, I found the prioritisation of drivers a bit cavalier. For example, climate change is listed as the key threat to the Nile-Victoria system, but by my reading of the report, over-extraction and geopolitical conflict are the major challenges. Discussion of likely future changes in the regional climate aren't even mentioned. Similarly, the report cites invasive species as a big threat for the Murray-Darling system in Australia. Yep, big problem. But what about the fact that due to drought and irrigation the Darling River is currently not a river but a creek (if that), the Murray is one of the most heavily developed stretches of river in the nation, and climate projections suggest significant declines in catchment runoff in the future (by my calculations 1-37% by 2070). Even the invasives are going to be doing it tough.

Yes, yes, WWF was trying to communicate the diversity of threats facing water resources all over the world, but a little more rigour in their examination of drivers would have made for a more useful (and accurate) presentation of risk.