Transcript Anchors Away!

White Water to Blue Water
WW2BW
Greg Ruark, USDA National Agroforestry Center
White water terrestrial fresh
water ecosystems
Blue water –
marine / estuary
ecosystems
World Summit
on Sustainable Development
(WSSD)
Johannesburg, South Africa - 2002
• 10-year anniversary of 1992 “Rio Earth Summit”
• Overarching themes:
Implementation;
Poverty eradication
Integrated solutions
A Major WSSD Outcome –
Commitment to Partnerships
• Voluntary and practical
• Public / private collaboration
• Integrated approaches…
“triple bottom line”
(social, economic, environmental)
www.un.org/esa/sustdev/partnerships
White Water to Blue Water
(WW2BW)
Objective:
To stimulate partnerships
that promote integrated
watershed and marine
ecosystem-based
management in support of
sustainable development
Initial Focus: Wider Caribbean Region
The Wider Caribbean Region
Member States:
Antigua & Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Republic
European Econ. Comm.
France
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Panama
St. Kitts & Nevis
Saint Lucia
St. Vincent & Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad & Tobago
United Kingdom
USA
Venezuela
4 Integrated Theme Areas
Sustainable
Tourism
Environmentally
Sound Marine
Transportation
Marine
Ecosystem-based
Management
Integrated
Watershed
Management
WW2BW International Steering
Committee Members
Governments
•Governments of the
Wider Caribbean Region
•U.S.
•U.K.
•France
•Netherlands
•Canada
Int’l Organizations
•UNEP-CEP
•CCAD
•CARICOM
•ECLAC
•UNEP-GPA
•IBRD
•UNDP
•OAS
•IOC-Caribe
•PAHO
•CEHI
•FAO
•IMO
•CATHALAC
NGOs and Private Sector
•IUCN
•Environmental Defense
•EcoLogic
•Conservation International
•The Nature Conservancy
•Wildlife Conservation Society
•PriceWaterhouseCoopers
•Carib. Conservation Association
Universities
•Univ. of the West Indies
•Univ. of Delaware
•Univ. of Rhode Island
•Univ. of Miami
•Earth University
WW2BW Process
• International Visiting Teams (IVTs) – visited
20 Wider Caribbean countries to encourage
forming interagency “Country Teams” to
participate in the Miami Conference
• Country Teams – identify priorities and develop
cross-sectoral partnerships and management
strategies. Made up of representatives of various
Ministries (e.g. Environment, Tourism, Agriculture,
Finance, Fisheries, Forestry) and private and
university partners.
WW2BW Partnership Conference
• Conference (March, 2004 – Miami, FL)
– Over 700 attendees
• Mechanism for new partnership development
• Gathering of diverse regional partners
• Education and training opportunities:
• The Institute@WW2BW
– 32 “how to” training courses offered by 56 instructors
from 12 countries
Actions in “Real Time”….
NCCR II: State of our Oceans & Coasts
A U.S. Link to WW2BW
What/where is
Gulf Hypoxia?
Dissolved
Oxygen levels (<2mg/l)
When did the issue surface?
In 1995, the Sierra Club Legal
Defense Fund petitioned
Louisiana and the US EPA to
convene a management
conference under Section 319 of
the Clean Water Act
…to address the serious threat to
the resources and people of the
Central Gulf of Mexico resulting
from non-point nutrient pollution
in the Mississippi River.
Areal Extent of Hypoxic Zone 1985 - 2004
25000
Area (sq km)
20000
5-Year
Running Avg.
15000
(14,000 sq km)
10000
2015
Goal
5000
(5,000 sq km)
0
1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003
Long-term Trends in Nitrate Concentrations
Sources of Nitrogen in MRB
Percent
Fertilizers
Soil Mineralization
N-fixing Legumes
Atmospheric Deposition
Feedlot Manure
Municipal
Other
31
31
21
7
6
1
3
About 8% of total is discharged into
Gulf, mainly from cropland sources
(Mitsch et al. 2001)
Nitrogen Outputs from Mississippi Basin
Nitrate Flux to Gulf is Usually Greatest in May
Connecting
Science and Practice
Coastal Goal: By the year 2015 reduce the 5-year
running average spatial extent of the Gulf of Mexico
hypoxic zone to less than 5,000 square kilometers
….a 30% reduction
Change farming practices
•limit N application
•avoid fall fertilization
•reduce N-fixing crop acreage
•improve manure management
•utilize soil nitrogen testing
Mitsch et al. 2001, BioScience
Divert Floodwaters
•to backwaters
•to coastal wetlands
•to riparian zones
Rather than relying on engineering to confine
floodwaters to river channel
Mitsch et al. 2001
Create or Restore Wetlands
•5-13 million acres on existing farmland
•especially adjacent to streams
Mitsch et al. 2001
Restore Riparian Forest Buffers
•riparian forest buffers
•bottomland hardwood forests
Mitsch et al. 2001
National Academy of Sciences – National Research Council
Riparian Areas: Functions & Strategies for Management (2002)
Recommendation:
… “restoration of
riparian functions
along America’s
waterbodies
should be a
national goal.”
“ …because riparian areas perform a
disproportionate number of biological
and physical functions on a unit area
basis, their restoration can have a
major influence on achieving the
goals of the Clean Water Act, the
Endangered Species Act, and flood
damage control programs.”
Riparian
Forest
Buffers
restore
ecological
processes that
support
“living
streams”
contiguous (paired) stream reaches
Forested Stream
> macroinvertebrates
> organic matter processing
> pesticide degradation
Stroud
> ammonia uptake
Water Research Center
(PNAS 2004)
1991 satellite image of the Republican River in Cloud Co., Kansas
Historic Maximum
A survey in
1878 by the
Kansas State
Board of
Agriculture
reported
timberbelts
containing oak,
cottonwood,
ash, hackberry,
mulberry, and
elm trees that
ranged from
165-1320 feet in
width (KSBA,
1878).
… using agroforestry