Explanation:
Off-farm responses
The best way of mitigating pressures on aquatic ecosystems is to avoid or limit the export of pollutants. Simple off-farm techniques, such as riparian buffer strips or constructed wetlands, can cost-effectively reduce loads entering surface water bodies.
Buffer strips are a well-established technology. Vegetated filter strips at the margins of farms and along rivers are effective in decreasing concentrations of pollutants entering waterways.
Integrated systems in which crops, vegetables, livestock, trees and fish are managed collectively can increase production stability, resource use efficiency and environmental sustainability. Integrated farming ensures that waste from one enterprise becomes inputs to another, thereby helping to optimize the use of resources and reduce pollution.
Before any action, to design cost-effective measures for preventing pollution and mitigating risks, managers, planners and lawmakers need to know the state of aquatic ecosystems, the nature and dynamics of the drivers and pressures that lead to water-quality degradation, and the impacts of such degradation on human health and the environment.
“This report lays out many ways to reduce pollution through tried-and-tested methods, as well as emerging options,” said Mansur. “We now have to step up the pace of our efforts to meet the goal of the 2030 Agenda to provide a more-sustainable and fairer world for all.”
