The Role of Biodiversity in our Watersheds
“Biodiversity 2010” was created by the International League of Conservation Photographers. No Water No Life is proud that it features imagery by NWNL Director and Photographer, Alison Jones, who is an iLCP Fellow.
This multimedia piece was part of the GEF (Global Environment Facility) celebration of the Year of Biodiversity – 2010. Our planet’s biodiversity is represented by amazing images of flora, fauna and ecosystems and indigenous cultures living within nature. The piece warns that poverty, habitat loss, inequality and extinction is fraying the fabric of these inter-relationships. Every species in this video is part of a watershed and plays a role in protecting and developing our freshwater resource. Biodiversity is critical to maintaining the health of our watersheds!
A River Runs Through Us
NWNL is proud to have photos from its 3 Omo River Basin expeditions used in Part 1 of this film that our partner International Rivers helped produce. The video is by Carla Pataky and premiered Feb 26, 2011. You can download a free copy of this for educational or artistic use. The film is available in English or English with Spanish subtitles.
The documentary interviews people actively addressing issues such as climate change effects on rivers and dams; communities displaced by or living downstream of large dams; and solutions that both preserve our life-giving waterways and meet our needs for energy and water. The commitment and hopefulness of these stakeholders was filmed at the Rivers for Life 3 meeting in Mexico where 350 river activists gathered from 50 countries to discuss these big threats facing our world’s lifelines. Part 2 of the film further documents the participants’ observations and plans, and contains credits at the end.
Wetlands Values and Functions
This one-page summary describes how wetlands provide habitat and food for wildlife, control flooding and recharge the water supply, regulate climate, and provide sustenance and cultural benefits to people.
View or download Wetlands Values and Functions.
NWNL Methodology for Investigating and Documenting a Watershed
This four-page methodology can be applied to the Nile, the longest river in the world, or to a backyard stream. No Water No Life encourages use of this methodology outline for obtaining and sharing data with fellow stakeholders in order to provide effective stewardship of their fresh water resources.
View or download NWNL Methodology.
No Water No Life Booklet
This is a companion catalogue for NWNL’s traveling photographic exhibit. Fourteen pages describe values of our freshwater resources, threats they face and solutions considered, and present profiles of NWNL’s six case-study watersheds. Published by Puddleduck Press, 2009. All rights reserved.
View or download No Water No Life booklet.
Troubling Facts about Our Fresh Water Resources
This one-page fact sheet is a collection of fascinating facts about water availability and water usage, and the effects of population increase, pollution, climate change, dams and agriculture.
View or download Fresh Water Resources fact sheet.
Salmon in the Trees
Video by Amy Gulik
Salmon in the Trees offers a simple, yet scientific, explanation of how anadromous* fish help maintain the health of our freshwater resources. Conservation photographer Amy Gulick’s Salmon in the Trees raises awareness of the critical role of salmon in the health of Alaskan watersheds. This web of biodiversity between bears, salmon, trees and our fresh water resources is just as critical in the Columbia River Basin; however today hydro-dams block the Columbia’s salmon migration from Canada’s Rockies out to Oregon’s Pacific Ocean coast.
*Definition of anadromous: adjective; (of a fish, such as the salmon) migrating up rivers from the sea or ocean to spawn.
The Water Cycle
Here is a print-friendly image of the water cycle diagram shown at left. Source: U.S. Geological Survey.
To learn more about the earth’s hydrologic cycle, go to the USGS webpage Water Science for Schools.
For activities to learn about the water cycle, and to learn more about water cycle evaporation, condensation, precipitation and replenishment, go to The Parts of the Water Cycle on PartsTap.com.