4
Turkey's freshwater ecosystems
under threat
Freshwater ecosystems cover less than 1% of the planet yet are among the most diverse and threatened ecosystems in the world. These precious ecosystems are under immense threat for hundreds of years such that their estimated loss was 69–75% for the 20th century. There is also no global assessment of the health of those wetlands that do remain, many of which are likely to now be heavily degraded. On the other hand, one-tenth of all animal species including almost half the world’s known fish species live in freshwater.