Professor Klement Tockner, Director of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Berlin, says that while freshwater ecosystems cover only 0.8% of the earth's surface, they contain roughly 10% of all animals, including more than 35% of all vertebrates. He spoke to Rajiv Sharma pectrum” about the threats to freshwater biodiversity which have now grown to a global scale.