The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Around the world, deforestation, pollution, climate change and other environmental pressures are shrinking the planet’s freshwater supply. Companies, governments and communities are feeling the impacts and share a common vision—we must understand, manage and develop large, working rivers in order to sustain them. These natural assets provide water, energy, food, jobs and recreation to people, as well as habitat for native plants and wildlife.

In 2005 and again in 2011 the vision for sustainable rivers became a reality when the Caterpillar Foundation made a cumulative $17 million commitment to The Nature Conservancy to support river systems worldwide through the Great Rivers Partnership (GRP). The mission of the Great Rivers Partnership is to bring together diverse partners and best science to expand options for achieving the sustainable management and development of the world’s Great Rivers and their basins. The GRP’s initial investment rivers included the Mississippi, Yangtze, Paraguay-Paraná.

The GRP is now expanding to include additional great rivers to advance conservation, restoration and sustainable development by investing in innovative strategies, sharing results and exchanging knowledge through scientific research and lessons learned. By building partnerships among great rivers worldwide, the knowledge we gain in one place can be utilized by river managers facing similar issues half a world away.

Learn more about the partnership between The Nature Conservancy and Caterpillar by reading their corporate case study.