Boats stuck in common Water HyacintHs, the Nile, Egypt (N 29°43’ E 31°15’) Card 170x120mm with recycled envelope and biodegradable cello. Detailed caption on the reverse of the card. Card is blank for your own message.
Boats stuck in common Water HyacintHs, the Nile, Egypt (N 29°43’ E 31°15’)
The Common Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is an invasive aquatic plant. It was discovered for the first time at the beginning of the 20th century in the Nile Delta, Egypt and the Natal province in South Africa. It is originally from Brazil where it develops
moderately in its natural habitat. It was introduced on the African continent and elsewhere as an ornamental plant and it has colonised in over 50 countries in the world over less than a hundred years. It hinders navigation and obstructs agricultural irrigation canals and the turbines of hydroelectric dams. The thick vegetal carpet it creates whose surface can double in 12 days causes eutrophication (a decrease in the oxygen levels of deep water) and causes the disappearance of aquatic life by asphyxiating it. No effective solution has been found to eradicate this invader, but organic methods make it possible to stop its proliferation. Only 1% of species introduced somewhere provoke significant environmental and economic losses, but their presence is still the second most frequent cause of species disappearance in the world after the destruction of natural habitats.
© yann arthus-Bertrand/altitude - www.yannarthusbertrand.org - www.goodplanet.org
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