Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on African Fish and Fisheries

abell, R. 2013. ‘Conservation and Management of Freshwaters in a Changing World. In J. Snoeks & A. Getahun (eds), Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on African Fish and Fisheries, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 22-26 September 2008. Tervuren: Royal Museum for Central Africa, ‘Zoological Documentation Online Series’, pp. 7-20. Inland water systems and species are on average around the world more imperiled than their terrestrial and marine counterparts. With threats to freshwater systems growing, effectively conserving and managing inland water biodiversity and the ecological functions that underpin essential ecosystem services will require more than maintaining the conservation status quo. This paper reviews some new datasets and emerging strategies for conserving freshwaters around the world. Strategies discussed are protected areas, environmental flows, ecosystem services, climate change adaptation, and market transformation. Many of these strategies are undertaken principally for reasons other than conserving freshwater species and habitats, but freshwater systems, functions, and resources are central to the strategies’ success and freshwater conservation targets may receive secondary benefits. None of these strategies on their own is a silver bullet for inland water systems conservation, and the efficacy of most to achieve their goals has yet to be rigorously evaluated. Undertaking more rigorous evaluations will help to clarify which strategies work and in what circumstances, and will provide exciting research opportunities for a new generation of scientists and practitioners.