Across the world, lakes fed by rivers, glacial melt, groundwater, rain and snow have played an important role in human civilization, culture and development. They contain most of the liquid fresh water on the planet’s surface , house an array of wildlife, and make farming, fishing and industry possible. They also play an important role in water storage, aquifer recharge and air temperature regulation. Yet, due to climate change, pollution, mining, population pressure, and unsustainable use, they are declining at an unprecedented rate. Freshwater ecosystems have lost more extent and biodiversity than almost any ecosystem in the world. The planet’s more than 3 million lakes vary enormously in terms of their salinity and chemical composition, area, depth, biodiversity, the volume of water they store, their ownership (whether publicly or privately owned), the extent to which they are polluted, the rate at which they are shrinking, and more. Lake Baikal in Russia is estimated to contai...
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