Amazon Forgotten Fishes

• The Nature Conservancy leads the latest edition of the Forgotten Fishes report series, confirming the Amazon Basin’s status as Earth’s most biodiverse river basin and highlighting the critical—often hidden—role that the more than 2,700 freshwater fish species play in conservation, economic productivity and cultural identity.
• In contrast with previous, biodiversity-focused studies, the latest report draws from voices of Indigenous and local communities to explore their relationships with freshwater fish, elevating their irreplaceable role as stewards in conserving the future of the river and its biodiversity.
• At a time of accelerating threats to the Amazon Basin from diverse, human-driven impacts, the authors highlight a fast-closing window of opportunity to conserve one of the world’s greatest and last remaining freshwater ecosystems while it is still functioning.

As a predicted “Super El Niño” event threatens long-term impacts on the Amazon basin, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and partners today published a first-of-its-kind report highlighting both the incredible freshwater fish biodiversity of the iconic Amazon River Basin and the scale of the conservation opportunity for both people and nature.

The Amazon Forgotten Fishes Report reveals the vast river basin harbors more than 2,700 recorded fish species—accounting for around one-in-seven freshwater fish species on Earth—and cements its status as the planet’s most biodiverse freshwater system.

Representing the fourth installment in the acclaimed Forgotten Fishes study series, the report combines contributions from more than 50 collaborators across 30 organizations, finding that—crucially—the Amazon remains one of the last globally significant freshwater ecosystems where large-scale biodiversity loss can still be prevented.

The report also represents the first Amazon-wide analysis to combine scientific evidence and traditional ecological knowledge, revealing the vital role freshwater fish play in sustaining ecosystems, food security, cultures, livelihoods and economies across the basin.

Collaborative and community-centered conservation approaches are essential in the face of the many, human-driven risks to the Amazon Basin highlighted by the report. This multitude of threats include hydropower development, deforestation, pollution, overfishing and climate change, all of which are combining to disrupt river connectivity, fragment wildlife habitat, alter natural flow patterns and degrade water quality to the detriment of the region’s unique biodiversity and millions of human livelihoods. The report warns that, while a powerful conservation opportunity exists if action is accelerated fast, a lack of coordinated, basin-wide action could see the Amazon follow the path of other, heavily altered river systems—leading to significant ecological decline.

Commenting on the report’s publication, lead author Fernanda Silva, Amazon freshwater fisheries conservation scientist for TNC, said: “Around the world, conservation efforts are increasingly focused on restoring ecosystems after damage has occurred. Contrary to the media narrative, our study confirms that the Amazon presents a different opportunity: protecting a globally significant freshwater system while it is still functioning. Our report also shows how initiatives centered on Indigenous stewardship, protected areas and basin-scale collaboration are already delivering results that, while they still need to be strengthened and further amplified, represent a blueprint for the future of freshwater conservation not only in the Amazon but worldwide.”

The report underscores the extent to which the Amazon Basin’s extraordinary freshwater biodiversity is protected by Indigenous leadership, with Indigenous, traditional and local communities combining generations of ecological knowledge. Indigenous governance practices steward many of the basin’s most intact and biodiverse rivers, maintaining fluvial connectivity in the face of mounting pressures. Their leadership, together with Western-based conservation paradigms, exemplifies what we already know to be true: supporting the rights of Indigenous, traditional and local communities is key to conserving biodiversity, resilient ecosystems and thriving communities for generations to come, not only in the Amazon but across the planet.

“For Indigenous Peoples, fish are not simply a resource. They are part of our identity, our food systems, our histories and our relationship with living rivers. Any strategy to conserve the Amazon must recognize Indigenous territorial rights, respect ancestral knowledge and strengthen Indigenous leadership in protecting the waters that connect the entire basin,” said Fany Kuiru Castro, coordinator general COICA and Amazon Forgotten Fishes Report author.

Providing her perspectives on the report, Paula Caballero, TNC’s regional managing director for Latin America and a key figure in the creation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, said: “The report makes clear that protecting the Amazon’s freshwater systems is not only an environmental imperative, but also an economic and social necessity. It offers a roadmap for action that brings together governments, investors, scientists and Indigenous Peoples around a common goal: maintaining a resilient and connected basin capable of sustaining biodiversity, livelihoods and regional prosperity.”

To download the full Amazon Forgotten Fishes report, visit Nature.org.