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P R O T E C T I N G E C O S Y S T E M S F O R P E O P L E A N D P L A N E T / 1 5 1Table 6.9: Review of National Reports submitted to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)Number of CBDQuestion Response Party countriesHas your country included inland water biological diversity considerations in its work with organizations, No 4institutions and conventions affecting or working with inland water? Yes 66Has your country reviewed the programme of work specified in annex 1 to the decision (Decision IV/4), No 20and identified priorities for national action in implementing the programme? Under review 29Yes 11Is your country supporting and/or participating in the River Basin Initiative? No 35Yes 34Is your country gathering information on the status of inland water biological diversity? No 9Ongoing 56Completed 5Has your country developed national and/or sectoral plans for the conservation and sustainable use of No 15inland water ecosystems? Yes 54Source: Seventy-two second National Reports submitted; data retrieved 24 June 2002 from second National Report Analyser at http://www.biodiv.org/reports/nr-02.asp (values have been rounded in two cases where 0.5 wasassigned when a country made two responses to a question).In Ukraine, a number of programmes are designed to restoreand protect ecosystems, including the National Programme ofEcological Improvement of Quality of Drinking Water (1999), theNationwide programme of Protection and Reproduction of the Azozand Black Seas Environment, the Programme of Development ofWater-supply and Sewer Facilities. Incentives for Private LandStewardship in the United States have resulted in installation ofabout 1,159,000 km of protective buffers. Also US$1 billion hasbeen allocated to remove sensitive lands from agriculturalproduction and to encourage use of conservation practices.Technical guidance on restoration methods has been produced anddemonstrated in twelve showcase watersheds. Against thebackground of a policy of ‘no net loss of wetlands’, a strategy hasbeen implemented to achieve a net increase of 100,000 wetlandacres per year by 2005. The Rawal Lake has been selected forspecial attention by the government of Pakistan, followingidentification of unsustainable practices such as construction ofseptic tanks/latrines in adjacent settlements. Three restorationprogrammes have been recommended including the development ofa scheme to collect and recycle waste for use in irrigation.Summary of progressIt is noted above that Chapter 18 of Agenda 21, arising from UNCED in1992, set out key objectives for protection and integrated managementof freshwater resources. Progress towards those objectives made afterfive years was formally reviewed by the UN CSD (1997). As illustrated,this review provided numerous examples of successes and promisingchanges in technical cooperation, participatory planning, and waterquality monitoring, but noted inter alia the continuing global concernover deteriorating water quality, the incomplete knowledge of thepathways and impacts of pollutants, lack of appropriate legislation andfinancing, and the urgency of remedial action.Reporting obligations under the 1992 CBD enable a partialassessment to be made of recent national initiatives. Although only aminority of CBD Parties (seventy-two out of a total 183) havesubmitted second National Reports to the CBD, a review of thesesuggests that significant progress has been made in certain aspectsof biodiversity conservation and use in inland waters (see table 6.9).Most of the seventy-two countries submitting reports indicatethat they are gathering information on inland water biodiversity;similarly, most have reportedly developed national plans forconservation and sustainable use of inland water ecosystems, andhave implemented relevant capacity-building measures. This suggeststhat a number of countries have already made some progress towardsthe strategic planning and target-setting discussed at The Hague. It isnot yet possible to assess to what extent these measures haveinfluenced the condition of ecosystems in these countries.In addition to general measures for the conservation andsustainable use of genes, species and ecosystems, the CBD hasestablished a thematic work programme on inland water biodiversity,and much effort has been devoted to developing this work,identifying obstacles and priorities, and establishing cooperationamong relevant initiatives and organizations. The programme is beingdeveloped in cooperation with the Ramsar Convention, and nowincludes a catchment-focused River Basin Initiative.However, while several developed countries are implementingsome form of assessment and monitoring programme andundertaking remedial work, less-developed countries are less able toplace these activities among their highest priorities. Protectinginland water ecosystems is therefore likely to remain problematic in