Thames and Ganges Twinning Project takes off

Last year's International Riverprize Winner, River Thames in the UK, launched its twinning project with the River Ganges in India in August 2011. Local delivery partners the PEACE Institute Charitable Trust and WWF India have begun working with community groups in more than 20 villages along 1,600 kilometres of the upper Ganges and its main tributary river the Yamuna, which flows through the capital city of Delhi.

Villagers are being given training and technical advice to restore their stretch of river, reduce pollution and adopt eco-friendly agriculture to boost food production. Poverty stricken fishermen are being given rope weaving machines to provide an alternative livelihood for their families, and to reduce the pressure on fish stocks. In return, villagers will help to rescue the nests of turtles and Gharial crocodiles and rear their eggs in special hatcheries for release back to the river.

The project will raise living standards and help save some of the world’s rarest freshwater wildlife, such as the Ganges River Turtle, Ganges River Dolphin and the fish-eating Gharial crocodile. In a great start to the project, initial surveys have found a Gharial with young in the lower river Yamuna, where they were thought no longer to breed. An event is planned for December in Delhi to mark the first year of the project.

Thames Rivers Restoration Trust  |  Photo: Fish eating Gharial, the world's rarest crocodile species