Ian James Harrison

• PhD
• Conservation International

Freshwater ecosystems are highly biodiverse¹ and important for livelihoods and economic development², but are under substantial stress³. To date, comprehensive global assessments of extinction risk have not included any speciose groups primarily living in freshwaters. Consequently, data from predominantly terrestrial tetrapods4,5 are used to guide...

Cover: A pasture photographed in Lapinha da Serra, Santana do Riacho, Minas Gerais, Brazil. In a Viewpoint in this issue, Cássio Cardoso Pereira and colleagues argue that efforts to increase carbon sequestration by planting trees in such pastures constitutes a common but serious mistake, because such planting would fail to restore the pasture its n...

The focus on removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere reflects increased public attention to climate change that potentially comes at the expense of other biodiversity challenges. This asymmetry between environmental agendas harms not only biodiversity but also climate-change mitigation because environmental issues are inexorably intertwined. Cl...

Rivers, wetlands, lakes, and other freshwater ecosystems collectively cover only 1% of the Earth's surface. Yet, these ecosystems support a disproportionately large and vast array of biodiversity. Currently, these ecosystems face many threats, including pollution, habitat alteration, fragmentation, invasive species, overexploitation, overabstractio...

Freshwaters require targeted policy considerations to achieve biodiversity conservation goals and to support ecosystem services that communities around the globe depend upon. Effective conservation requires creative solutions that build and expand upon conventional protected areas, contextualized for these diverse ecosystems.

Freshwater biodiversity is under great threat across the globe as evidenced by more severe declines relative to other types of ecosystems. Some of the main stressors responsible for these concerning trends is habitat fragmentation, degradation, and loss stemming from anthropogenic activities, including energy production, urbanization, agriculture,...

Freshwater biodiversity, from fish to frogs and microbes to macrophytes, provides a vast array of services to people. Mounting concerns focus on the accelerating pace of biodiversity loss and declining ecological function within freshwater ecosystems that continue to threaten these natural benefits. Here, we catalog nine fundamental ecosystem servi...

Freshwater biodiversity, from fish to frogs and microbes to macrophytes, provides a vast array of services to people. Mounting concerns focus on the accelerating pace of biodiversity loss and declining ecological function within freshwater ecosystems that continue to threaten these natural benefits. Here, we catalog nine fundamental ecosystem servi...

The healthy watersheds concept links ecosystem condition with human benefits and helps decision-makers evaluate trade-offs. Implementation requires letting go of technocratic approaches, accounting for ecosystem services, embracing watersheds’ complexity and supporting participatory processes and subsidiarity.

Fantastic Freshwater: 50 landmark species for conservation is a collaboration between more than 70 conservationists and 21 IUCN SSC Specialist Groups and Red List Authorities. It highlights wonder of - and threats to - freshwater wildlife, including five species from each of the major 10 taxonomic groups.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a unifying call for change - guiding global actions at multiple levels of governance for a better planet and better lives. Consequently, achieving the “future we want” may be hindered by overlooking valuable natural resources and services that are not explicitly included in the SDGs. Not r...

Popular article written to review a paper previously published on the SDG indicators that serve to document natural resources. This highlights that the weakness of the SDG indicators is greatest in relation to biodiversity and the health of ecosystems, two vitally important aspects of sustainable development.

• Freshwater biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate. Freshwater conservationists and environmental managers have enough evidence to demonstrate that action must not be delayed but have insufficient evidence to identify those actions that will be most effective in reversing the current trend. • Here, the focus is on identifying essential...

Some conservation prioritization methods are based on the assumption that conservation needs overwhelm current resources and not all species can be conserved; therefore, a conservation triage scheme (i.e., when the system is overwhelmed, species should be divided into three groups based on likelihood of survival, and efforts should be focused on th...

Freshwater ecosystems are poorly represented in global networks of protected areas. This situation underscores an urgent need for the creation, application, and expansion of durable (long-term and enforceable) protection mechanisms for free-flowing rivers that go beyond conventional protected area planning. To address this need, we must first under...

We are facing a global water crisis that threatens human well-being and the fate of numerous freshwater species. Water insecurity, together with climate change, represent arguably the two most important environmental crises the world must face in the coming decades, and require urgent and collective action. But water is not carbon, despite attempts...

In 2010, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 to address the loss and degradation of nature. Subsequently, most biodiversity indicators continued to decline. Nevertheless , conservation actions can make a positive difference for biodiversity. The emerging Post-2020 Global Biod...

Describes the work done by the IUCN/SSC Freshwater Conservation Committee in 2019

Integrating freshwater and terrestrial conservation planning has high returns

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) purport to report holistically on progress towards sustainability and do so using more than 231 discrete indicators with a primary objective to achieve a balance between the environment, social and economic aspects of development. The research question underpinning the analyses presented in this paper is: ar...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) purport to report holistically on progress towards sustainability and do so using more than 231 discrete indicators, with a primary objective to achieve a balance between the environment, social and economic aspects of development. The research question underpinning the analyses presented in this paper is: a...

The inland waters of Mexico support a highly diverse group of freshwater fishes with high levels of endemism that occur across a broad range of aquatic habitat types. These aquatic ecosystems provide many direct (e.g., fisheries) and indirect (e.g., agricultural irrigation) benefits to people, and support local livelihoods and economies across Mexi...

Mexican freshwater fishes in the IUCN Red List

Inland fish provide food for billions and livelihoods for millions of people worldwide and are integral to effective freshwater ecosystem function, yet the recognition of these services is notably absent in development discussions and policies, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). How might the SDGs be enhanced if inland...

Despite their limited spatial extent, freshwater ecosystems host remarkable biodiversity, including one third of all vertebrate species. This biodiversity is declining dramatically: globally, wetlands are vanishing three times faster than forests, and freshwater vertebrate populations have fallen more than twice as steeply as terrestrial or marine...

The economic development-environmental protection dichotomy is an out-dated construct. A 21st century approach to the world's water problems is progressively being developed by researchers and practitioners, who are combining traditional and ecosystem-based engineering systems to yield cost-effective solutions. Given the continuing and widespread l...

Supplementary data are available at BIOSCI online.

Freshwater biodiversity is highly threatened and is decreasing more rapidly than its terrestrial or marine counterparts; however, freshwaters receive less attention and conservation investment than other ecosystems do. The diverse group of freshwater megafauna, including iconic species such as sturgeons, river dolphins, and turtles, could, if promo...

Extinction of a species is difficult to detect, yet there are important conservation consequences of classifying an extant species as extinct or an extinct species as extant, and potentially significant costs of making the wrong classification. To deal with the uncertainties of detecting extinctions, some Critically Endangered species are tagged as...

Extinctions are important indicators of biodiversity status. When they are detected, they may trigger the redirection of conservation resources to save other species. Yet declaring extinctions is inherently uncertain. Relevant evidence for consideration includes information on threats, the time series of species records and the effort employed to s...

This chapter aims to assist biodiversity observation networks across the world in coordinating comprehensive freshwater biodiversity observations at national, regional or continental scales. We highlight special considerations for freshwater biodiversity and methods and tools available for monitoring. We also discuss options for storing, accessing,...

The Congo River is the second only to the Amazon in terms of size and freshwater species diversity. The basin covers 4 million km2. The basin has over 1200 fish species, 400 mammal species, 1,000 bird species and over 10,000 vascular plant species. It provides about 30 % of Africa’s freshwater resources, and about 77 million people living in the Co...

The Congo River is the second only to the Amazon in terms of size and freshwater species diversity. The basin covers 4 million km2. The basin has over 1200 fish species, 400 mammal species, 1,000 bird species and over 10,000 vascular plant species. It provides about 30 % of Africa’s freshwater resources, and about 77 million people living in the Co...

Freshwater biodiversity continues to decline. Protected areas are recognized as critical tools in its conservation. Concurrently, despite global efforts to ensure water supplies, billions of people remain without access to pure water. Conversely, flooding kills tens of thousands of people each year. While designated primarily for nature conservatio...

The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2011–2020), adopted at the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, sets 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets to be met by 2020 to address biodiversity loss and ensure its sustainable and equitable use. Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 describes what an improved conservation...

Protected areas, although often terrestrially focused and less frequently designed to protect freshwater resources, can be extremely important for conserving freshwater biodiversity and supporting human water security necessary for people to survive and thrive. This study measured the quantity of water that is being provided by protected areas to a...

Incluye bibliografía e índice

UN Science Brief on Achieving SDGs for Deltas

Basin-scale planning is needed to minimize impacts in mega-diverse rivers

This book is available online at http://press.anu.edu.au

The Global Freshwater BioBlitz began in February 2014 as an effort to engage nature lovers in freshwater fish conservation. The objective was to increase the amount of data being collected on freshwater fishes. Alarmingly, freshwater fishes may now be the most threatened group of vertebrates, based on more than 7,000 species currently assessed for...

Report available from: http://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/cop12_doc23_bn7_sowws_e_0.pdf Key Messages. The global extent of wetlands is now estimated to have declined between 64-71% in the 20th century, and wetland losses and degradation continue worldwide. Because of wetland losses and degradation, people are deprived of t...

Globally, fresh water is a limited resource, covering only about 0.8 % of the world’s surface area. With over 126,000 species living in its ecosystems, freshwater harbours a disproportionate share of the planet’s biodiversity; it is essential for life, and central to satisfying human development needs. However, as we enter the Anthropocene, multipl...

This chapter reports the findings of a Working Group on how atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition affects both terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity. Regional and global scale impacts on biodiversity are addressed, together with potential indicators. Key conclusions are that: the rates of loss in biodiversity are greatest at the lowest and initial...

With growing recognition of the importance of understanding potential impacts to freshwater biodiversity and ecosystems, approaches for systematically assessing site-level risks at a global level are needed. Chevron and Conservation International (CI) partnered in 2012 to test using the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) - with enhancem...

Deltas are economic and environmental hotspots, food baskets for many nations, home to a large part of the world population, and hosts of exceptional biodiversity and rich ecosystems. Deltas, being at the land–water interface, are international, regional, and local transport hubs, thus providing the basis for intense economic activities. Yet, delta...

Liza bandialensis Diouf 1991 is redescribed because previous descriptions have not been in well-distributed publications and have lacked sufficient detail or reference to voucher specimens. The description provided here is based on specimens from the Sine Saloum estuary, Senegal (West Africa), from where the species was originally described. The di...

The Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) has been in formal existence for three years, following several years of design and discussion. It is the realisation of the biodiversity societal benefit area envisaged in the GEO System of Systems (GEOSS). GEO BON links together existing networks, each covering particular...

Poster from the paper: Freshwater ecosystem services supporting humans: Pivoting from water crisis to water solutions Pamela A. Green, Charles J. Vörösmarty, Ian Harrison, Tracy Farrell, Leonard Sáenz, Balázs M. Fekete Paper Abstract. A new global scale water indicator, the freshwater provisioning index for humans (FPIh), maps the capacity of upst...

This is a chapter in the report by Darwall et al on 'The Diversity of Life in African Freshwaters: Under Water, Under Threat. An Analysis of the Status and Distribution of Freshwater Species Throughout Mainland Africa' which can be downloaded from ResearchGate or directly from the IUCN web site at: http://cms.iucn.org/theme/species/our-work-ssc/our...

Communément connus comme poissons dormeurs, les Eleotridae se caractérisent par la présence de six rayons branchiostèges, par des nageoires pelviennes séparées, par une tête déprimée à largeur interorbitaire aussi grande ou plus grande que le diamètre oculaire, par une deuxième nageoire dorsale plus courte que la longueur du pédoncule caudal et par...

A comparative cytogenetic and allozyme analysis of sympatric specimens of Mugil rubrioculus and M. curema from Venezuela is reported. Specimens of M. rubrioculus exhibit a 2n=48 karyotype with exclusively acrocentric (NF=48) chromosomes, one pair of NORs interstitially located on chromosome pair number 8 and constitutive heterochromatin distributed...

Se presentan los resultados del análisis comparativo citogenético y aloenzimático entre las especies simpátricas Mugil rubrioculus y M. curema de Venezuela. Los especímenes de M. rubrioculus presentan un cariotipo con 2n=48 cromosomas exclusivamente acrocéntricos (NF=48), NORs intersticiales localizados en el par cromosómico número 8 y heterocromat...

The original description of Mugil gaimardianus has created various taxonomic problems in the past since the description is ambiguous and the type specimen is apparently lost. The name M. gaimardianus could not be reliably applied to any known species and was suppressed by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) (Bulletin of Z...

Freshwater fish collections made during the California Academy of Sciences 2001 Expedition to São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa, provided numerous specimens of Sicydium species. Our examination of these specimens indicates that two species were found on the islands. One species is S. brevifile Ogilvie- Grant, 1884, previously...

HinfI polymorphism, detected in the mitochondrial DNA, discriminates between the Atlantic eel species Anguilla anguilla and A. rostrata.

Mullet fry from Italian coastal waters are examined to ascertain ontogenetic changes in pigmentation, external morphology, anal-fin ray counts, and morphology of the pyloric caeca and pharyngobranchial organ. The taxonomic utility of these characters is assessed. Intraspecific and ontogenetic variation in anal-fin ray numbers do not make this a con...

Examination of fry of five species of grey mullet revealed that the shape of the lower jaw and the melanophore patterns along the edge of the lower jaw and the ventral side of the head are species-specific. Mugil cephalus is characterized by an acute angle of the dentary symphysis and lightly pigmented ventro-opercular and gular regions of the head...

Throughout most of human history, freshwater resources have been more than adequate to serve human needs while maintaining the integrity and biological diversity of Earth’s ecosystems. However, an exponentially increasing human population is placing ever greater demands on Earth’s limited supply of fresh waters. Already more than half of all access...