Source: Living Lakes Canada

"As one of the largest lakes in the world, Lake Winnipeg is very well known, but not much is known internationally about the dramatic environmental problems of the lake and the wetlands in its watershed," said Udo Gattenlöhner, of Global Nature Fund.

Global Nature Fund said Lake Winnipeg is the 10th largest freshwater lake in the world. Its watershed spans nearly one-million-square kilometres and stretches from the Rocky Mountains to Lake Superior.

Bob Sandford, chair of the Canadian Partnership Initiative in support of the U.N. Water for Life Decade, said: "Lake Winnipeg has at last been identified internationally as one of the world's great fresh water disasters, just as many scientists predicted. Despite the efforts and good intentions of concerned Manitobans, Canada's international environmental reputation has been down-graded to below that of a developing nation."