GEO BON 153d ago

Spring ecosystems develop where groundwater reaches the surface, and are focal hotspots for biodiversity conservation, understanding of aquifer integrity, and cultural and economic attention throughout the world. Springs are abundant and widely used, but have been over-appropriated and degraded or lost, precipitating recent global conservation concern. Using examples from North America and South Africa in a mixed-speaker seminar, we will describe the state of knowledge of springs distribution and their ecology, bio-cultural and economic value, and discuss the strategy for improving conservation. The biodiversity of springs, as an ecosystem type, can be reported under the three targets of Goal A of the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework (GBF) by 2030 and thereafter. We hope this FWBON webinar will open the discussion at the global level, towards improved representativeness and reporting of this ecosystem type in the future. Speakers: Larry Stevens (Springs Stewardship Institute, USA) Joseph Holway (Springs Stewardship Institute, USA) Heidi van Deventer (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa, FWBON Africa Regional Coordinator ) Links: FWBON: https://geobon.org/bons/thematic-bon/freshwater-bon/ Springs Stewardship Institute: https://springstewardshipinstitute.org/