World's Top 10 Rivers At Risk

The primary objective of this report is to illustrate the most menacing threats to the world’s great river basins, in order to encourage dialogue, provoke debate, and urge governments and other stakeholders to take action before it is too late. To do this, WWF has selected the “top ten” major rivers that, in our view, either a) already suffer most grievously under the weight of these threats or b) are bracing for the heaviest impacts. Thus, there are some rivers on the list that are so damaged that without serious restoration efforts they could be lost, and others that are relatively intact, but face massive degradation unless action is taken now to conserve them. The ten most endangered rivers emerge as: the Salween, La Plata, Danube, Rio Grande, Ganges, Murray-Darling, Indus, Nile, Yangtze and Mekong. [Report by WWF]