AGUA RÍOS Y PUEBLOS

Ecosystem Degradation and Hunger

AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM DECLINE AND HUNGERIn a few decades, we have drained a large part of our wetlands, felled riparian forests, and changed, narrowed and channelled streams. With tens of thousands of large dams, we have destroyed the stability of river habitats. We have polluted and overexploited aquifers and rivers, which sometimes do not even reach the sea. In the name of “progress,” we have broken the water cycle, so that continental water ecosystems have the highest proportion of extinct or endangered species.This devastation not only affects biodiversity but also exacerbates two major human crises: access to drinking water and hunger. Most of the protein in the diet of poor communities comes from fishing. Today, we are witnessing human disasters, and even more serious ones are announced each day. This is happening through the destruction of fisheries. The Amazon, Aral Sea, Lake Chad, Sinú, Paraná, Mekong … all are examples of how the degradation of rivers and lakes may aggravate problems of hunger in the world.

“CLOSE YOUR EYES, IF YOU PREFER NOT TO LOOK”

The desiccation of the Indus Delta is one of the world’s most underreported ecological disasters. A vast complex of massive dams, barrages, and irrigation canals has drastically reduced the flow of the Indus, causing seawater intrusion into the delta, contaminating drinking water and killing off vegetation and fish stocks.

The shrinking of the delta – by as much as 90% – has seriously harmed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people.

“THE UNCERTAIN PROMISE OF IMITATING NATURE”

Half a million people live along the Lower Omo, an isolated region that has long been neglected by the Ethiopian government. At least eight distinct indigenous communities are supported by the river’s flood cycle: the Mursi, Bodi, Muguji (Kwegu), Kara (Karo), Hamar, Bashada, Nyangatom, and Daasanech. These people’s food supply depends on the river’s seasonal rise and fall, which is currently being threatened by the construction of the massive Gibe 3 dam.

The project’s US$1.7 billion construction contract was awarded without competition to the Italian construction giant Salini, raising serious questions about the potential for corruption. In addition, the rights of the communities of the Lower Omo Valley under both Ethiopian and international laws have been abused, leaving their livelihoods and communities at great risk.

Without adequate mitigation, Gibe 3 Dam will diminish the quality of life for much of the area’s population, create hunger, poor health, and food aid dependence, and cause resource conflicts and a general unraveling of the region’s social structure.

“CLOSE YOUR EYES, IF YOU PREFER NOT TO LOOK”
The desiccation of the Indus Delta is one of the world’s most underreported ecological disasters. A vast complex of massive dams, barrages, and irrigation canals has drastically reduced the flow of the Indus, causing seawater intrusion into the delta, contaminating drinking water and killing off vegetation and fish stocks.

The shrinking of the delta – by as much as 90% – has seriously harmed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people.

“HOW COTTON KILLED THE SEA”

Once the fourth largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea has in the last five decades lost more than three-quarters of its area and two-thirds of its volume.

To grow cotton and rice, the Soviet Government built dams and canals diverting the water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, which once sustained the sea. Ports that once supported transport, fishing and fish canning industries, are now landlocked and lie abandoned some 60-130 km from the shore.

The wind carries dust, salts and pesticide residues from the dried-up seabed throughout the region, causing serious health problems. The infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the world. The image of rusting boats abandoned in the desert has become a symbol of the environmental and human disaster caused by the irrational use of water.

“THE DISAPPEARING LAKE”

Lake Chad, once one of Africa’s largest and most productive bodies of fresh water, has shrunk dramatically. In 1963, the lake covered about 25,000 square km.

Today it is one-twentieth of that size. The area of the shallow lake, which once supported a diversity of wildlife, has always fluctuated between seasons and between years, but over the past four decades it has steadily decreased. The lake’s decline is attributed to water diversions for irrigation and overgrazing in its basin, which is home to about 20 million people.