FIGO president urges urgent protection of lakes on World Lake Day

Global: On World Lake Day (27 August 2025), Prof Kihara Anne Beatrice, President of FIGO, stressed that lakes are a vital human resource essential for life, health, and dignity—and urgently need safeguarding.

Lakes: lifelines under threat

Lakes provide drinking water, food, energy, and livelihoods to communities worldwide. Yet they face mounting threats from pollution, climate change, and unsustainable exploitation—which disturb ecosystems and jeopardise human well-being.

Gendered impact of lake degradation

Women and girls—often responsible for collecting water and managing household needs—are disproportionately affected. Degraded lakes lead to heavier workloads, unsafe journeys, and even higher exposure to gender-based violence.

Environmental hazards and health risks

Pollutants such as heavy metals, industrial waste, and endocrine disruptors contaminate lake ecosystems, undermining reproductive health. Consequences include infertility, pregnancy complications, cancers, and long-term intergenerational harm. Climate change intensifies these risks by triggering floods, droughts, toxic algal blooms, and the spread of diseases like malaria, dengue, cholera, and diarrhoea—all of which hit women, newborns, and children hardest.

Economic collapse and food insecurity

Ecosystem breakdown weakens the blue economy, undermining livelihoods and nutrition security. Loss of lake health means disrupted fishing, irrigation, and transport systems—jeopardising food access and economic stability.

FIGO’s call to action

With FIGO’s Committee on Climate Change and Toxic Environmental Exposures, the FIGO President called for immediate and comprehensive action:

• Strict regulation of pollutants and toxins entering lake systems.

Safeguarding lakes, she emphasised, is essential not only for women’s health but for resilient communities and our shared sustainable future.