The contribution of scientific information to the conservation and management of freshwater biodiversity in tropical Asia

Abstract

Tropical Asia (i.e. the Oriental biogeographic region) is the most densely populated and degraded region on Earth with the highest deforestation rates in the tropics. Flow regulation is a significant threat to riverine biodiversity in the region, and its impacts are combined with overharvesting, pollution and other sources of habitat degradation. In addition to these immediate threats, the potential impacts of exotic species and climate change are difficult to predict. Uncertainty about impact effects arises also from the fact that knowledge of the rich freshwater biodiversity of tropical Asia is incomplete, and up-to-date national or regional inventories are lacking. In part, this reflects taxo-nomic constraints, and a limited representation of Asian science in the internationallimnological and conservation literature. A survey of recent (1992-2001) international journals dealing with freshwater ecology and limnology in general , on one hand, and conservation biology on the other, reveal that the representation of scientists based in tropical Asia was extremely low. Scientists from tropical Asia authored fewer than 2% of more than 4500 papers dealing with freshwater biology ; 57% of them were published in Hydrobiologia. Less than 0.1% of freshwater biology papers dealt with the conservation of biodiversity in tropical Asian fresh waters. The representation of Asian freshwater science in the conservation biology literature was also poor; 0.6% of 1880 papers surveyed. Such limited dissemination of information reflects a variety of constraints (e.g. manpower, funding , language , and entrenched attitudes) , arising from sources both within and outside the region. Even the data that are published are not effectively deployed toward conservation ends. Awareness of some of the more egregious examples of over-harvesting (e.g. of river turtles) in the region has increased , but strategies for the protection of riverine biodiversity remain underdeveloped. Where legislation to protect water resources has been put in place, it has been directed towards enhancing human use of water-not biodiversity conserv ation-and enforcement is weak.