High Altitude Wetlands of Nepal

Abstract

The Congo River is the second only to the Amazon in terms of size and freshwater species diversity. The basin covers 4 million km 2 . The basin has over 1200 fish species, 400 mammal species, 1,000 bird species and over 10,000 vascular plant species. It provides about 30 % of Africa's freshwater resources, and about 77 million people living in the Congo basin rely on them. The basin has remained relatively undeveloped compared to other basins in Africa, but increased political stability is allowing development, with loss of riparian habitat through defores-tation, and reduction of water quality through pollution and sedimentation being some of the main threats to the freshwater ecosystems. Effective environmental planning is essential to ensure that resources are managed wisely and the ecosys-tems that provide them are adequately protected. Additional surveying and monitoring of biodiversity throughout the basin is required. It will also be important to designate additional protected areas with a focus on freshwaters.