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Freshwater ecosystems are in serious trouble. At a time when the natural world is under stress, our rivers, lakes, wetlands and streams may be the most at risk. Freshwater ecosystems have lost a greater proportion of their species and habitat than those on land or in the oceans, and they face increasing threats ranging from poor land management to dams.
The Nature Conservancy is working to protect and restore this essential resource for now and for future generations. We are facing these threats with thoughtful, science-guided solutions that demonstrate that the needs of people and nature are not in conflict but rather interdependent.
These threats rarely operate in isolation of one another and can be simplified into the following primary threats:
- Dams and water withdrawals alter a river's natural course and block the pathways used by migrating fish, reduce and rearrange the patterns of flowing water that have choreographed aquatic life cycles for millennia, and change water quality.
- Water pollution resulting from agricultural runoff and industry poisoning fish and wildlife in rivers and lakes before being carried downstream through estuaries and impacting our oceans.
- Invasive exotic species disrupting vital natural processes and unraveling the natural biodiversity.
- Direct habitat destruction caused by agriculture or urbanization can completely wipe out a freshwater ecosystem.
- Overharvesting of plants and animals for the purpose of subsistence, commercial sales, collecting, or recreational purposes.
- Global climate change is already altering the temperature and flow of waters, putting pressure on human supplies.
The Nature Conservancy is addressing these threats, and our global strategies are being applied locally and on the ground to save these fresh waters for future generations.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Jupiter Images (releasing water for irrigation); Photo © Haroldo Palo (river front houses, Brazil).
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