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The Nature Conservancy and Caterpillar Inc., through its Caterpillar Foundation, have embarked on the Great Rivers Partnership, an ambitious effort to guide protection of the world's imperiled freshwater systems and transform the way large working river systems are preserved and protected.
The purpose of the partnership is to create a new model for sustaining the world's great river systems and the plants, animals and people that depend on them. Great rivers generally are defined as floodplain rivers with seasonal floods that are sufficiently long-lasting, predictable and extensive.
Plants, animals and people adapted to depend on the flood cycle of floodplain rivers for survival. These rivers are vital to the cultural heritage and economic prosperity of their regions. Unfortunately, the great rivers of the world face challenges from unsustainable agricultural practices, degrading flood management practices and harmful water flow restrictions.
The Conservancy ranks conservation of great rivers among its global priorities. The gift from Caterpillar is supporting conservation of large river systems on three continents: the Mississippi River basin in the United States, Brazil's Paraguay-Paraná River system, and China's Yangtze River.
Beginning with these three rivers and expanding beyond this core group to include other great rivers, the Conservancy has initiated a coordinated approach to the conservation, restoration and sustainable development of these important ecosystems.
Photo credits (top to bottom, left to right): Terraced fields along the Mississippi River near Harper's Ferry, Iowa © Robert J. Hurt; The Jinsha River and Tiger Leaping Gorge, Yunnan Province, China. Jinsha River is the westernmost of the major headwater streams of the Yangtze River, southwestern China. © Brian Richter/TNC
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