Aquatic Ecosystem and its Management

The global concepts of sustainable development demand for scientific progress to be integrated with the realities of environmental management, legislation, and policy making. Aquatic ecosystem management is a key element in this endeavor for sustainability, since water quality is an important prerequisite for human health and development. The health and integrity of aquatic ecosystems should therefore, not only be regarded as important in its own right, but Water is Life. Freshwater is one of the most valuable commodities on our planet, and this resource should be managed in a sustainable way. Yet, we are less than careful in the way we use water and many of our non-rnarine, aquatic habitats are threatened by anthropogenic impacts. Eutrophication, for example, could well turn into one of the major social as well as economic problems of the 21st century.