India one of the nine countries to sign a global pact to protect endangered river dolphins
- January 26, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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India one of the nine countries to sign a global pact to protect endangered river dolphins
Subject: Environment
Section: Species in news
Global Declaration for River Dolphins:
- A meeting was held in Bogotá, Colombia, around International River Dolphin Day (Oct. 24), to discuss the political context, success stories, and collaborative efforts for river dolphin conservation.
- The global declaration aims to double river dolphin populations in Asia and halt their decline in South America.
- A key goal was to encourage nations to sign the Global Declaration for River Dolphins, led by Colombia’s government, WWF, the Omacha Foundation, the World Bank, and the South American River Dolphin Initiative (SARDI).
- This declaration, signed by nine of the 14 range countries, aims to reverse dolphin population declines, protect river habitats, promote research, and address unsustainable fishing practices.
- The declaration stresses the under-recognized crisis facing river dolphins and the mutual responsibility to save them, benefiting both rivers and wetlands.
Impact of climate change on both dolphins and human populations in Amazon:
- River dolphins inhabit major rivers in Asia and South America, impacting nearly 1 billion people living along these rivers.
- Transport and water supply challenges due to low river levels. Nearly half a million people are affected in the Amazonas state of Brazil alone.
- High temperatures in Lake Tefé caused algae to release a neurotoxic toxin.
Importance of Dolphins:
- River dolphins, top predators in some of the world’s largest river systems, are crucial for ecological balance and serve as indicators of ecosystem health.
- The six species of river dolphins are: the Amazon river dolphin, the Ganges river dolphin, the Indus river dolphin, the Irrawaddy dolphin, the tucuxi, and the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise, with the Yangtze finless porpoise, sometimes considered a separate species. All these species are threatened, with the baiji, a Yangtze River dolphin, declared likely extinct in 2007.
- These dolphins face numerous threats, including unsustainable fishing, climate change, pollution, illegal mining, direct hunting, and infrastructure construction, leading to a 73% population decline since the 1980s.
- Both Asian and Amazonian river dolphin populations are decreasing.
Efforts to save dolphins:
- In China, the Yangtze finless porpoise population has increased by 23% over five years, a critical success following the extinction of the baiji in the same river system. In Indonesia, signalling devices in fishing nets have protected dolphins while benefiting local fish catches.
- In Pakistan and India, the Indus River dolphin population has nearly doubled in the past 20 years.
Places in news:
- Lake Tefé- Brazil
- Bogotá- Colombia
- Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve and Yasuní National Park- Ecuador