1. Freshwater biodiversity conservation through protected areas: international obligations and lessons for Australia. Jamie Pittock WWF Research Associate Fenner School of Environment & Society, ANU Jamie.pittock@anu.edu.au Australian Protected Areas Congress, 25 th November 2008

2. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, March 2005  “Freshwater ecosystems tend to have the highest proportion of species threatened with extinction.” [pg 19];  “The use of two ecosystem services - capture fisheries and freshwater - is now well beyond levels that can be sustained even at current demands, much less future ones.” [pg 20];  “… important gaps in the distribution of protected areas remain, particularly in marine and freshwater systems” [pg 31]. Source: WWF Living Planet Report 2004 Figure: IPCC Technical Paper VI “Climate Change and Water”, June 2008: Large-scale relative changes in annual runoff for the period 2090–2099, relative to 1980–1999. (Milly et al., 2005).

3. The litmus test for multilateral agreements  “Significantly reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010” (WSSD & CBD)  Halve the number of people without adequate access to water, sanitation, food and energy by 2015 (UN MDG & WSSD)  National “Integrated Water Resources Management” Plans (commenced) by 2005 (WSSD).  “ Prevent dangerous ” climate change “ within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure food production is not threatened and enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner. ” (UNFCCC).

4. IUCN protected areas definition 2008 “ “A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values” IUCN categories of protected areas:  I. Strict Nature Reserve/Wilderness Area  II. National Park  III. Natural Monument  IV. Habitat/Species Management Area  V. Protected Landscape/Seascape  VI. Managed Resource Protected Area > Embraces Ramsar sites and many other freshwater designations, such as wild and heritage rivers.

5. Convention on Biological Diversity  Programme of Work on Protected Areas (2004) : ambitious targets 2010, including 275 M ha inland waters habitats (but no environmental flows)  Programme of Work on Inland Waters (2005): commitments to species & basin scale conservation (10%), reduce threats & sustainable use  CBD track record on implementation limited thus far  Need to simplify obligations for governments, eg. ‘Mountains to Sea’ ~ 100+ pages to 50  Monitoring implementation & indicators  Ramsar collaboration

6. Ramsar Convention on Wetlands  ‘Three pillars’: a) wise us of all wetlands, b) international cooperation, & c) Ramsar sites  158 Contracting Parties to the Convention  1822 wetland sites of 168 M hectares  ~ 16% of ~10.3 M km2 of freshwater habitat globally  Ramsar Convention on Wetlands’ Strategic Plan commitment to reach 250 M ha of Ramsar sites by 2014  Regional & ‘BasinWet’ initiatives  Management indicators & measures  Management: 2002 national reports – 40% had plans, 20% had plans in preparation

7. WWF instigated wetlands reserves 1999-2007  May 1999 – June 2007  Target = +100 M ha  Achieved = 84 M ha, 291 wetlands in 46 countries  Small grants of up to CHF 40,000  Total CHF 2.07 M (WWF = 1.2 M, others 0.8 M)  Cost per hectare = CHF 0.24  About ¾ designated as Ramsar sites  73% of all new Ramsar sites from 1999-2006

8. WWF & regional initiatives RegionWetlands (ha)WWF grants (CHF) Other funds (CHF) Lake Chad 12,500,122213,33323,634,000 Niger River 15,164,480253,3332,539,000 Lake Malawi 3,805,70060,0002,030,000 Algeria 3,453,92580,000725,00 Andes 547,88880,000370,000 Himalayas 5,333,232220,500388,600 TOTAL40,805,347907,16629,686,600

9. Algeria Ramsar sites conservation  Joined Ramsar 1983  WWF grants of CHF 160,000 from 2000  Inventory work  Designation: 42 sites, covering 2.96 M ha  Wetlands strategy in preparation  Management of oases  Date exports - US$18 M in 2001  Education centre

10. Biological importance + threats analysis Niger River basin 15 M ha / 7 yrs with CHF 253K

11. Basin wide activities 43 floodplains with high potential for flood risk mitigation Total: >10,500 km 2 remaining areas; >7,000 km 2 restoration source: WWF (2006)

12. New tools:  Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (2008) - http://www.feow.org/  IUCN Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management Categories (revised 2008) - http://data.iucn.org/dbtw- wpd/edocs/PAPS-016.pdf;http://data.iucn.org/dbtw- wpd/edocs/PAPS-016.pdf  Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (revised 2007) – http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/our_soluti ons/protection/tools/tracking_tool/index.cfm  Wetland Management Planning - a Guide for Site Managers (2008) – http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater/index. cfm  Buying time – manual for resistance and resilience building (2003): http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/ publications/index.cfm?uNewsID=8678&uLangID=1  Adapting water to a changing climate: an overview (2008): http://assets.panda.org/downloads/adapting_water_to_a_chang ing_climate.pdf http://assets.panda.org/downloads/adapting_water_to_a_chang ing_climate.pdf

13. Lower River Murray

14. Source: Victorian Department of Sustainability & Environment

15. Gwydir wetlands Ramsar site  Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999  Reactive regulation of developments impacting Ramsar sites  Increased profile for proactive conservation, greater public participation & enforcement

16. So where is Australia?  Governments promised action on representative protected areas since 1994  Signed up to Ramsar & CBD protected area targets  No agreed bioregionalization  No Ramsar Strategic Framework  Ad hoc state government initiatives (+/-)  No coherent freshwater conservation targets  Ramsar designations stalled by timid governments  Limited NGO action in southern Australia  Academic arguments over protected area tools ignore existing tools that can work

17. Conclusions: 1.Freshwater biodiversity most threatened, largely overlooked by the protected areas community 2.Governments have signed up to ambitious freshwater protected areas targets (Ramsar & CBD) 3.Some good progress overseas but not in Australia 4.Better freshwater protected areas tools now available and lessons on what works (eg. Demonstrating other benefits, grants programs, action following disasters, publicity) 5.Rejuvenate use of Ramsar Convention on Wetlands rather than inventing new tools.

18. Thank you! Paper based in part on: Pittock et al. (2008) Running dry: freshwater biodiversity, climate change & protected areas, in Biodiversity 9(3-4):30- 38. Acknowledgements: Support from NSW Dept Environment & Climate Change This research was part funded by the HSBC Climate Partnership & WWF Presentation is partly based on the work of many WWF staff and project partners Research supervisors: Prof Steve Dovers, Dr Karen Hussey, Dr Lara Hansen Photo: A Campbell 2008