Safeguarding freshwater life beyond 2020: Recommendations for the new global biodiversity framework from the European experience
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Abstract
Plans are currently being drafted for the next decade of action on biodiversity—both the post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Biodiversity Strategy of the European Union (EU). Freshwater biodiversity is disproportionately threatened and underprioritized relative to the marine and terrestrial biota, despite supporting a richness of species and ecosystems with their own intrinsic value and providing multiple essential ecosystem services. Future policies and strategies must have a greater focus on the unique ecology of freshwater life and its multiple threats, and now is a critical time to reflect on how this may be achieved. We identify priority topics including environmental flows, water quality, invasive species, integrated water resources management, strategic conservation planning, and emerging technologies for freshwater ecosystem monitoring. We synthesize these topics with decades of first‐hand experience and recent literature into 14 special recommendations for global freshwater biodiversity conservation based on the successes and setbacks of European policy, management, and research. Applying and following these recommendations will inform and enhance the ability of global and European post‐2020 biodiversity agreements to halt and reverse the rapid global decline of freshwater biodiversity.
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Cites
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- Authors
- van Rees, C. B., Waylen, K. A., Schmidt‐Kloiber, A., Thackeray, S. J., Kalinkat, G., Martens, K., Domisch, S., Lillebø, A. I., Hermoso, V., Grossart, H., Schinegger, R., Decleer, K., Adriaens, T., Denys, L., Jarić, I., Janse, J. H., Monaghan, M. T., De Wever, A., Geijzendorffer, I., Adamescu, M. C., & Jähnig, S. C.
- Affiliations
- Department of Wetland Ecology Estación Biológica de Doñana Seville Spain
- James Hutton Institute (GB)
- BOKU University (AT)
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB)
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (DE)
- Institute of Natural Sciences (BE)
- Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (PT)
- Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (ES)
- University of Potsdam (DE)
- Research Institute for Nature and Forest (BE)
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (CZ)
- Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (NL)
- Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) Brussels Belgium
- Tour du Valat (FR)
- University of Bucharest (RO)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Jähnig, Sonja C.
- ORCID
- van Rees, Charles B.
- Waylen, Kerry A.
- Schmidt‐Kloiber, Astrid
- Thackeray, Stephen J.
- Kalinkat, Gregor
- Martens, Koen
- Domisch, Sami
- Lillebø, Ana I.
- Hermoso, Virgilio
- Grossart, Hans‐Peter
- Schinegger, Rafaela
- Decleer, Kris
- Adriaens, Tim
- Denys, Luc
- Jarić, Ivan
- Janse, Jan H.
- Monaghan, Michael T.
- Geijzendorffer, Ilse
- Adamescu, Mihai C.
- Jähnig, Sonja C.
- Venue
- Conservation Letters
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-10-12
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 1755-263X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3000656062
- Cited by
- 192
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 17.15
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Conservation Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Preprints.org (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- KNAW Research Portal (The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RECERCAT (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- NERC Open Research Archive (Natural Environment Research Council) (acceptedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Refubium (Universitätsbibliothek der Freien Universität Berlin) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- edoc Publication server (Humboldt University of Berlin) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- publish.UP (University of Potsdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- KNAW research portal (Royal Academy of Art and Sciences (KNAW)) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Repositori ObertUDL (University of Lleida) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Universitätsbibliothek der FU Berlin Hochschulschriftenstelle u. Dokumentenserver (cc-by)
- Funders
- Leibniz-Gemeinschaft (J45/2018)
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (01LC1501G1, 01LN1320A)
- Fulbright Association (Fulbright Early Career Scholar Award)
- Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UID/AMB/50017/2019)
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/N006437/1)
- Akademie Věd České Republiky (J. E. Purkyně Fellowship)
- Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (RYC‐2013‐13979)
- Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BR/175/A1/ORC)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Conservation and Management
- Keywords
- freshwater biodiversity, post-2020 global biodiversity framework, Convention on Biological Diversity, EU Biodiversity Strategy, biodiversity policy, environmental flows, water quality, invasive species, integrated water resources management, conservation planning, freshwater ecosystem monitoring, ecosystem services, biodiversity loss
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