Rivers and lakes are the most degraded ecosystems in the world. Can we save them?
We rely on fresh water for drinking, food, and sanitation, and they’re in trouble. But freshwater issues are becoming a higher priority for conservationists.
ByStefan Lovgren
Email
When Grand Canyon National Park was established a century ago, the Colorado River running through it was treated as an afterthought. In the decades following, states scrambled to squeeze every drop of water out of the Colorado for farming and drinking, with a cascade of huge dams constructed along its course.
Native fish like suckers and chubs, found nowhere else in the world, were replaced with invasive catfish and bass that were more attractive for anglers. In time, the mighty river that had once carved out one of America’s most iconic landscapes was reduced to a trickle, no longer able to fulfill its destiny of reaching the sea.
In a first for Canadians, a river in Côte-Nord, Que., has been granted legal personhood by the local municipality of Minganie and the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit.
The Magpie River, (Muteshekau-shipu in the Innu Coet) is an internationally renowned whitewater rafting site, winding nearly 300 kilometres before emptying into the St. Lawrence. The river has one hydroelectric dam managed by Hydro-Québec, and environmental groups have long sought a permanent solution to protect the river from further disruption.
It is unclear how this will affect attempts to build developments on the river, including dams, moving forward, as legal personhood for nature doesn t exist in Canadian law and could be challenged in court. Minganie, Innu council and several environmental groups collectively called the Alliance hope international precedents set in New Zealand, Ecuador and several other countries will help pressure the Quebec government to formally protect the river.
A new report from a coalition of 16 conservation groups warns that almost a third of freshwater fish species face extinction because of human activity.
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