Books

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Fresh Water:  The Essence of Life

This shows how Earth's freshwater supply and ecosystems are in rapid decline and require immediate action to better protect and manage one of the world's greatest natural assets. Freshwater ecosystems contain a greater concentration of life than anywhere else on Earth and are seriously imperil. Through the power of photography to focus the public eye on critical issues, "Fresh Water" showcases the biodiversity concentrated in one of the world's most important ecosystems.

"Fresh Water", the 18th edition in the CEMEX Conservation Book Series, aims to highlight that human subsistence directly depends on freshwater. Freshwater resources comprise only 2.5% of the total water on Earth and of that small portion, only 0.3% is easily accessible. Freshwater ecosystems provide us with an estimated $7 trillion a year worth of goods and services critical for us to survive and thrive, including water for drinking, waste removal/sanitation, transportation, and to generate 16% of our planet's electricity through hydropower.

The book provides a blueprint for initiatives which will better manage the growing global freshwater crisis, Most importantly, "Fresh Water: The Essence of Life" offers realistic solutions and actions to be implemented now. In order for us to reverse the current trends of freshwater ecosystem degradation we must better understand the number of freshwater species in the world, use fresh water more efficiently, and protect, manage and value freshwater ecosystems.

The book contains precise scientific analysis from some of the most knowledgeable freshwater biologists and scientists in their field, along with images from leading nature and conservation photographers from around the world. "Fresh Water: "The Essence of Life" aims to inspire forward looking policies, laws and institutions that will empower people to take action and allocate our remaining freshwater resources wisely. Any further loss of this essential and incredibly scarce resource will leave our environment, our livelihoods and our future in peril.

About the Author
Russell A. Mittermeier is President of Conservation International (CI), a position he has occupied since 1989. His areas of expertise include primatology, herpetology, tropical biology, and biodiversity conservation. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 1977, and has published more than 570 scientific and popular papers and nineteen books. Among the honors he has received are the Order of the Golden Ark of the Netherlands (1995); Grand Sash and Order of the Yellow Star, Republic of Suriname (1998); the Order of the Southern Cross of the Brazilian Government (1998); the Aldo Leopold Award from the American Society of Mammalogists (2004); the Sir Peter Scott Award of IUCN's Species Survival Commission (2008); and Harvard University's Roger Tory Peterson Medal (2009). Tracy A. Farrell is the senior director of the Freshwater Initiative at Conservation International (CI). She has spnitiatives in the areas of fresh water, ecosystem services, and wildlife trade. In this role, Farrell creates research agendas, strategic directions, and business plans to refine CI's niche and partnership approach to address these as well as other emerging institutional priorities. Ian J. Harrison is part of Conservation International's Science and Knowledge Division and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Programme. Harrison coordinates fundraising for the Global Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment (GFBA), a joint program run by Conservation International (CI), IUCN's Species Programme, and NatureServe. Harrison's PhD thesis (University of Bristol, England) was an analysis of the implications of small body size on the biology of fishes. He has conducted fieldwork in Europe, Central and South America, West Africa and Central West Africa, the Philippines, and the Central Pacific. Amy J.Upgren works with the Conservation Priorities and Outreach Team of the Science and Knowledge Division at Conservation International (CI). In conjunction with CI regional offices and partners in Latin America and the Caribbean, she identifies biodiversity conservation priorities and analyzes their contribution to human well-being in terms of ecosystem service provision. She received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Haverford College and a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University. Thomas M. Brooks, from Brighton, United Kingdom, holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Geography from the University of Cambridge (1993), and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee (1998). He is currently the Vice President for science and chief scientist at NatureServe, a network of eighty-two Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centers dedicated to providing the scientific basis for effective biodiversity conservation action. He holds visiting positions at ICRAF-the World Agroforestry Center in the University of the Philippines Los Baños, and in the Department of Geography of the University of Tasmania. He also has a long standing involvement with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and has served on its Conserving Biodiversity Core Program Group since 2009, on the Steering Committee of its Species Survival Commission since 2004, and on its Red List Committee since 2001. Brooks has authored 171 scientific and popular articles, of which nineteen have been published in Nature or Science.
 

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