Gland, Switzerland – On the eve of World Water Day, WWF warns that Asia's river dolphin populations are in severe decline due to polluted waters, dams and entanglement in fishing nets and has launched an initiative to save some of the world's most threatened mammals.

According to the global conservation organization, this is all the more worrying as river dolphins are key indicators of a river's health and of the availability of clean water for the people living along its banks.

WWF lists industrial, agricultural and human pollution, as well as the use of dams, which restrict the dolphins movement as some of the major threats facing the aquatic mammal. Accidental catches by fishermen are also contributing to the decline of dolphin populations.

'River dolphins are the ‘watchdogs’ of the water,' said Jamie Pittock, Director of WWF's Global Freshwater Programme. 'The high levels of toxic pollutants accumulating in their bodies are a stark warning of poor water quality. This is a problem for both dolphins and the people dependent on these rivers.'

Latest evidence shows that the Yangtze River dolphin is particularly threatened with only 13 individuals left in China’s largest river. Another study by WWF-India revealed that there are fewer than 2,000 Ganges River dolphins along the 6,000km stretch of the Ganges and Brahmaputra river system. A similar number of Irrawaddy dolphins remain in Asia-Pacific waters while in Pakistan, there are no more than 1,100 dolphins scattered in five populations.

River dolphins swim in some of the world’s most densely populated river basins, including the Ganges and Indus river basins, where one tenth of the world’s people live.

'Clean water is not only vital for the survival of the river dolphin, but also for the quality of life for millions of the world’s poor,' added Jamie Pittock. 'Conserving biodiversity and alleviating poverty reduction are inextricably linked.'

WWF is working with authorities and local people along the Ganges, Yangtze and Indus rivers to improve water quality and dolphin habitat. For example, through the WWF River Dolphin Conservation initiative, local communities are being encouraged not to pollute the river with household detergents and to prevent toxic run-off by using natural fertilizers, such as cow manure. In the Ganges, such an initiative has increased dolphin numbers from 22 to 42 over the past decade along a 164km stretch of the river.

WWF China’s Yangtze Dolphin Conservation Strategy has implemented countermeasures addressing threats to dolphins. At Tian’e-Zhou Oxbow in Hubei Province, the site of a national dolphin reserve, the WWF -HSBC Yangtze Programme is working to relink oxbows, wetland areas regarded as havens for river dolphins, to the Yangtze. WWF’s project there has also resulted in the re-opening of a dyke that has cut off the lake with the Yangtze for five years. Other approaches include mitigating non-point pollution (pollution which cannot be traced back to a single source), setting up a dolphin conservation network, developing alternative livelihoods for fishermen, and promoting organic agriculture.

These approaches follow the ‘ecosystem approach,’ which differs significantly from past practices on Yangtze dolphin conservation by advocating to protect habitats or ecosystems, rather than focusing on species alone.

With one of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) being to halve the number of people without safe water supplies and sanitation by 2015, WWF is calling on governments, local communities, water management agencies and investors to protect areas of high biodiversity to ensure that they provide clean water for people and nature.

For further information:

Caroline Liou, Communications Manager, WWF China, t +86 10 6522-7100 ext 3239, m +86 1370-120-4254, email caroline@wwfchina.org

Lisa Hadeed, Communications Manager, WWF Global Freshwater Programme, t +41 22 364 9030, m +41 79 372 1346, email lhadeed@wwfint.org.

Joanna Benn, Communications Manager, WWF Global Species Programme, t +41 22 364 9093, m +41 79 236 1209, email jbenn@wwfint.org.

Brian Thomson, Press Officer, WWF International, t +41 22 364 9562, m +41 79 477 3553, email bthomson@wwfint.org.

EDITORS NOTES

1. On World Water Day, Tuesday, March 22, when the UN launches its Decade of Water, Jamie Pittock, Director of WWF International’s Freshwater Programme is available for TV, radio and print interviews.

2. For a background information on on the River Dolphin Conservation Initiative please contact Lisa Hadeed, Communications Manager, WWF Global Freshwater Programme, t +41 22 364 9030, m +41 79 372 1346, email lhadeed@wwfint.org.

3. For a background information on WWF China’s Yangtze Dolphin Conservation Strategy please Caroline Liou, Communications Manager, WWF China, t +86 10 6522-7100 ext 3239, m +86 1370-120-4254, email caroline@wwfchina.org

4. Irrawaddy dolphins number fewer than 1,000 throughout their range in Southeast Asia, with about half found within Thai waters. Another 1,000 individuals are reported to live within Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria. All international commercial trade of the species was banned in October 2004 at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). A WWF feature on the Irrawaddy dolphin can be found at: http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/features/news.cfm?uNewsID=16351

5. A WWF feature on the Ganges River dolphin can be found at: http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/features/news.cfm?uNewsID=19110

6. For more information on WWF’s Global Freshwater Programme go to www.panda.org/freshwater.

7. For more information on WWF’s Global Species Programme go to www.panda.org/species.