A study warns the natural river basins network should expand to protect biodiversity in rivers

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla), the freshwater blenny (Salaria fluviatilis), the freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera auricularia) and the pronged clubtail (Gomphus graslini) are some of the vulnerable species that are not represented enough in the biodiversity catalogue of the Natural River Basins (RNF) in the country, according to a new article published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems –in which researchers Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles and Núria Bonada, from the Research Group Freshwater Ecology, Hydrology and Management (FEHM) of the University of Barcelona take part. 

The new science article –focused on the Ebro River basin- adds for the first time the participation of the citizens and other social and institutional agents (water agencies, hydrographic confederations, scientists, non-governmental organizations, environment consultants, etc.) in the designing process for the water reserves map in Spain. Other participants in the study are the experts Virgilio Hermoso (Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia, CTFC), Tony Herrera (New Water Culture Foundation, FNCA), and José Barquín (University of Cantabria).

Reservial Project: protecting river areas with the highest ecological and socioenvironmental value

The Natural River Basins (RNF) were created in Spain in 2015 to preserve the river areas with no human intervention and which were in a perfect ecological state. The new study reveals the first conclusions of Reservial (2015-2017), a pioneering project in the European framework to assess the efficiency of the RNF in Spain with the people’s and involved social agents’ consensus.

This innovating project wants to shape a network of water basins to represent the rivers in Spain so as to guarantee the protection of the river spots with the highest ecological and socioenvironmental value as well as the preservation of the water biodiversity. Reservial is led by Núria Bonada, lecturer from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences and the Biodiversity Research Institute (UB-IRBio) of the UB, and counts on the participation of the New Water Culture Foundation (FNCA) and BBVA Foundation.

With public participation in the research protocol, experts define the conservation criteria RNF should fulfil to guarantee the protection of biodiversity related to rivers. “About 60% of the species that were assessed in the project are not enough represented in the RNF. Some of these species are regarded as vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species”, notes Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles, member of the FEHM-UB research group and the Water Research Institute (IdRA) of the University of Barcelona.  

“Therefore, social and scientific and technical requirements demand an additional effort to bring the element of biodiversity as a strategic criteria when assigning the RNF in a certain river basin”, adds Cañedo-Argüelles.

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Picture: Reservial