The Big Challenges for Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation

With World Biodiversity Day just one sleep away, Will Darwall, Head of the IUCN Freshwater Biodiversity Unit, sat down with Paul Jepson from the University of Oxford to discuss some of the big challenges facing freshwater biodiversity.

The theme of the International Day of Biodiversity 2013 is ‘Water & Biodiversity’, highlighting the crucial importance of both. However, freshwater biodiversity is currently facing some big challenges. 50% of the world’s wetlands have been lost last century, freshwater species most at risk from extinction, and habitat destruction is making the problem worse, yet the problem often literally remains out of sight and out of mind.

Listen to Will Darwall explore some of the key issues and explain why it is important to be concerned about freshwater biodiversity.

Tune in tomorrow for part 2 of the interview, where Will Darwall discusses a potential solution to address freshwater biodiversity’s lack of visibility.