By Kerry Brink

We all know that rivers consist of many different components such as water, vegetation, rocks, fish, invertebrates, birds and sometimes crocodiles.

But the question that is often asked is why do we care if they are flowing and thriving with animals and biodiversity? How will it affect us and, perhaps more oftenly asked, how will it affect us who are living in the cities?

Organisations like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), The Nature Conservancy, International Rivers and many others have all been working hard to explain this to people around the world.

Here is a great summary of how free flowing ecosystems provide social, economic and conservational value to people all around the world from the From Sea to Source 2.0 book: www.fromseatosource.com. More can be found in the WWF (2006) report: Free-flowing rivers – economic luxury or ecological necessity? Zeist: WWF Global Freshwater Programme

Image (c) From Sea to Source 2.0