The world’s great rivers have been home to the growth of human civilization, form unique and vital ecosystems, and comprise regions that sustain the livelihoods of billions of humans. Yet today the world’s big rivers face a wide array of anthropogenic stressors that are challenging and threatening their functioning as never before. Jim’s review provides a state of-the-art analysis that highlights the perilous condition of many of these great waterways and the need for urgent, international action. Such threats to big rivers include large-scale damming, pollution, climate change and its effects on changing patterns of flooding and drought, water withdrawals and transfers, sediment dredging and mining, and the effect of non-native species. All of these stressors must also be considered in the light of how such large, and often transboundary, river basins are governed.
Read more on this on the LAS website, and a Nature ‘Behind the Paper’ blog. The original paper can be read here.