Rivers have relatively less protection than do land or oceans and we lack effective mechanisms for measuring protection. A new study offers an improved mechanism for tracking progress.
The Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, Texas. The Rio Grande was one of the first group of eight rivers granted Wild and Scenic River status in 1968.That mismatch does seem surprising - shouldn’t we be able to align our environmental investments with protection for those resources that society prioritizes most? One explanation for that mismatch: rivers are crucial components of freshwater systems, yet due to the complicated way they function, we haven’t had effective methods for even tracking the extent to which rivers are protected.
While monitoring methods and data on their own won’t increase river protection, having these available could certainly help identify gaps, communicate needs and, ultimately, drive greater resources toward river conservation.provided a comprehensive framework for measuring and tracking levels of river protection – and confirmed the need to boost protection efforts.fire—were a primary driver for the flurry of landmark environmental federal legislation passed in the early 1970s, with broad, bipartisan support for the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency.found near-universal support for protecting drinking water supplies, with similarly high support for protecting lakes, streams, and rivers . Protecting drinking water polls as thestrong support for protecting water quality But while there has been great progress in many countries in improving water quality through regulating sewage systems and industrial waste, the impressive public support for protecting freshwater ecosystems has not translated into actual protection.Limitations in tracking river protection can be explained in part by distinct characteristics of rivers that undermine the effectiveness of simple mapping. River systems are dynamic, flowing, interconnected networks, and the environmental health of a river section designated as protected can be highly sensitive to impacts outside of the protected boundaries. This can include pollution originating from unprotected portions of a watershed or a dam that is upstream or downstream from the nominally protected section but that negatively impacts flow patterns or connectivity for migratory fish. Most efforts to track the status of river protection don’t account for these complexities and instead simply quantify the extent of river channel that falls within the boundaries of terrestrial protected areas, such as national parks. While this approach provides some insights, it paints a somewhat limited picture of river protection. What’s needed is a method that moves beyond quantifying rivers within terrestrial protected areas and is capable of accounting for the distinctive processes and characteristics that define functioning rivers—as well as theoffers a more comprehensive approach that accounts for the diversity of both river processes and protection mechanisms. The researchers propose a Protected River Index that integrates five “key ecological attributes essential for the long-term persistence of socio-ecological values in rivers” and measures the strength of protection mechanisms for those attributes. This approach does consider the land protection context of a river segment—e.g., is it within a national park or wilderness area—but also considers protections for surrounding riparian areas or floodplains, riverine habitat requirements for endangered species, and specific protections for water quality. Their study applied the PRI to assess protection status for seven million kilometers of river in the United States . They found that only 12% of rivers in the contiguous United States have a level of protection that is considered “viable” . This is a considerable gap from the goal of the Global Biodiversity Framework which calls for protection of 30% of freshwater systems by 2030 . Further, the rivers with viable protection in the U.S. are not evenly distributed. A relatively large proportion of high elevation rivers on public lands have viable protection , but rivers in warmer and low elevation areas—which tend to have more people and often greater biodiversity—are considerably less protected. The often-insufficient overlap of river protection with other values, such as drinking water sources, does point toward to where future protection efforts can be focused. Protecting rivers within watersheds that provide drinking water will be well aligned with the public’s strong support for safeguarding clean water. Freshwater systems in countries across the world also have an uncertain future, with continued loss of habitats to draining, fragmentation, and pollution. The goals of 30 x 30 and the—a country-led initiative with the goal of restoring 300,000 kilometers of river and 350 million hectares of degraded wetland by 2030—are pushing back against these trends.If we’re going to get serious about protecting freshwater ecosystems, we’ll need an effective way to target and track those efforts. The Protected River Index can be adapted for use in other countries and offers a way for scientists and leaders to map current status, identify gaps, prioritize resources and then monitor progress.
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