THE untamed rivers of the world are rapidly becoming extinct. Most big river systems, including the 20 largest and the eight most biologically diverse, now have dams on them – and it could be only a matter of time before the last untamed flows are tapped for hydroelectricity or irrigation.
The first systematic study of almost 300 of the planet’s largest river systems finds that most of the remaining wild rivers are in the empty Arctic tundra and northern boreal forests. The largest surviving wild river system is the Yukon in remote northern Canada, the world’s 22nd largest river by volume.…
