Progress and challenges in freshwater conservation planning

Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems and their associated biota are among the most endangered in the world. This, combined with escalating human pressure on water resources, demands that urgent measures be taken to conserve freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide. Systematic conservation planning provides a strategic and scientifically defensible framework for doing this. Here, we consider early progress in freshwater conservation planning, and identify some pressing research gaps for advancing the field. Challenges relating to both improvement of scientific rigour and implementation of freshwater conservation plans are identified. High demand for water from multiple stakeholders requires planning for implementation from the outset. Three guidelines are suggested for promoting effective implementation: assessing socioeconomic and institutional contexts, promoting cooperation, and embedding plans within a monitoring and evaluation framework. These guidelines are based on experiences from integrated water resource management and terrestrial conservation planning; however, many remain to be applied and tested in a freshwater conservation context. Scientific progress and research gaps are discussed in the context of setting quantitative conservation targets, developing freshwater biodiversity surrogates, incorporating connectivity, and designing freshwater conservation area networks. Some progress has been made in establishing basic information required to tackle conservation planning from a freshwater perspective; however much research is still required to improve the scientific credibility of this information.