MANAGEMENT OF LAKES AND THEIR WATERSHEDS: GLOBAL TRENDS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the issue of managing lakes and their drainage areas. It is shown that lakes are participants in the global water cycle, regulators of river flow, climate mitigation factors in the region and biodiversity conservation. Lakes, especially large ones, are an important resource in providing livelihoods for communities that depend on water bodies and coastal areas, recreation and public health. At the same time, the lakes suffer from significant anthropogenic pressure, including on the drainage area. The drying up and degradation of the Aral Sea in Central Asia, once the fourth largest lake in the world, is one of the worst environmental disasters on the planet in the late 20th century. The main reason for this environmental disaster is the influence of anthropogenic factors (70%). A sharp drop in the level of the Aral Sea began in connection with the development of agriculture in the Aral region, primarily due to the intensive cultivation of cotton in irrigated fields. Until the 1960s, the entire water flow of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, which feed the Aral Sea, was used to irrigate cotton plantations. The construction of numerous reservoirs and canals upset the balance between water supply and evaporation. In Africa, Lake Chad, formerly one of the twenty largest lakes in the world, is degrading. Management plans for lakes and their catchment areas, which have become widespread around the world since the beginning of the 21st century, are an important mechanism for the sustainable use and protection of water bodies. There are different approaches to creating lake management plans around the world. In Europe they form part of river basin management plans under the EU WFD, although a number of countries have already established the European Living Lakes Association in 2023, which aims to place lake and wetland conservation on the political agenda. On other continents, lake management plans are developed as independent documents under the auspices of government bodies with the broad involvement of public organizations. Ukraine, which implements the provisions of the EU WFD in the field of water resources management, should adopt both European and world experience in the sustainable use and protection of lakes.