Radolfzell, 23 December 2022: After a Corona break during the last two years, an event could finally take place again at the beginning of the month with which the international environmental foundation Global Nature Fund (GNF) traditionally unites the members of the worldwide lake network Living Lakes at a special body of water: the Living Lakes Conference. The 16th edition of the event in Puno, Peru, was about nothing less than a viable perspective for international lake and wetland protection in the 21st century.
On the shores of Lake Titicaca, which borders both Peru and Bolivia, participants spent three days discussing ways out of the crisis facing the world's aquatic ecosystems. The conference was hosted by GNF and the Peruvian conservation organization ALT (Binational Autonomous Authority of Lake Titicaca). The conference was held as a kick-off event for the Living Lakes Biodiversity and Climate Project LLBCP, funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, through which GNF and its partners will implement biodiversity conservation and climate protection measures in twelve countries over the next five years.
Global beacon for essential aquatic ecosystems "More than 85 percent of the world's lakes and wetlands have been lost over the past three centuries, and the rate of loss is still increasing dramatically, especially in the last decades," says Dr. Thomas Schaefer, Head of Conservation & Living Lakes at GNF.
"This is much faster than for example the tropical rainforest, which is talked about much more - yet water ecosystems have indispensable functions for the preservation of an intact environment and also play a crucial role in the fight against climate change. We are happy that so many partners from the Living Lakes Network have accepted our invitation to Lake Titicaca to give these topics the space they deserve. Our conference is meant to be something like a global lighthouse for lake protection. And it came now at exactly the right time, because at LLC 16 regarding the bad situation of lakes worldwide we could take up the impulses of the COP 15 in Montreal which took place at the same time."
Joint Declaration on Lake Protection 158 participants from 33 Living Lakes partner organisations from 30 countries came together in a special atmosphere at the Andean Lake at an altitude of over 3,800m. The atmosphere was good despite the challenging high altitude air, the program tightly packed, the objective clear: Constructive exchange with input from different world regions as well as the development of a "roadmap" for effective global lake and wetland protection, which will already become effective in the course of the next few years.
The "Declaration of Lake Titicaca 2022" adopted by all participants is exactly that: The Living Lakes Conference demands from political decision makers, but also from citizens worldwide, a determined commitment to sustainable socio-political framework conditions for lake and wetland protection, the establishment of a World Water Fund, the reduction of microplastics in inland waters and the expansion of ecological agriculture in the catchment area of water ecosystems. Many of the aspects addressed in the declaration also play a crucial role in the new GNF project LLBCP.
Download the Declaration of Lake Titicaca 2022 and the presentations given at the conference Learn more about the Living Lakes Biodiversity and Climate Project LLBCP Learn more about Living Lakes Contact Global Nature Fund
Dr. Thomas Schaefer
Head of Living Lakes & Conservation
Fritz-Reichle-Ring 4
78315 Radolfzell, Germany
Phone: +49 7732 9995 85
Fax: +49 7732 9995 88
E-Mail:
schaefer@globalnature.orgWebsite:
www.globalnature.org