By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Eleven Asian and South American countries signed a declaration Tuesday to save the world’s six surviving species of river dolphins from extinction.
The landmark declaration, "Global Declaration for River Dolphins," was signed in the Colombian capital of Bogota in the face of a "seemingly irreversible decline" in global river dolphin numbers, according to a statement from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
It aims to halt the decline of all river dolphin species and increase the most vulnerable populations.
The declarations will scale up collective efforts to safeguard the remaining river dolphin species by developing and funding measures to eradicate gillnets, reduce pollution, expand research and increase protected areas, the statement added.
States that adopted the declaration include Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia Colombia, Ecuador, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru and Venezuela. There was also a representative from Indonesia who was responsible for the Mahakam River.
River dolphin populations have plummeted globally by 73% since the 1980s.
River dolphins live in some of the world’s most important rivers, including the Amazon and Orinoco in South America, and the Ayeyarwady, Ganges, Indus, Mekong, Mahakam and Yangtze rivers in Asia.
The rivers support hundreds of millions of people, from Indigenous peoples and local communities in remote areas to residents of megacities.
- Indus dolphin population rises
In Pakistan, the population of the endangered Indus River dolphins has almost doubled in the last 20 years due to collective action by the government, communities and NGOs, said the statement.
But there are still only 2,000 Indus River dolphins.
The statement enumerated several steps being taken by the WWF-Pakistan, together with local communities, to boost conservation efforts and address threats facing the species.
They include reducing pollution to improve dolphin habitat, releasing dolphins entangled in fishing gear and rescuing dolphins trapped in irrigation canals.
“The population of the Indus River dolphin has been successfully recovered in Pakistan from the brink of extinction through coordinated efforts. Yet, unsustainable fishing practices, habitat fragmentation, water infrastructure developments and pollution continue to pose significant threats to its surviving population,” said Syed Ghulam Qadir Shah, inspector general of Pakistan's Ministry of Climate Change.