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Working with government

Keeping freshwater ecosystems healthy couldn’t be more crucial for people, animals and the planet. It’s time for governments to pay attention to the importance of water.

Augusto Falls on the Juruena River, Brazil

Keeping rivers flowing

Keeping water flowing naturally in rivers, lakes and wetlands is vital.

The pattern of rising and falling water levels creates the conditions freshwater species and plants need to survive and reproduce, and provides cues for fish to spawn and migrate to find food. It’s integral to the functioning of whole river, lake and wetlands systems.

But people have drastically altered the flows of the world’s rivers. Unsustainable water use, poorly planned dams and infrastructure to control floods have been hugely damaging.

Some major rivers have run nearly or completely dry, including North America’s Rio Grande, Australia’s Murray-Darling River and Asia’s Indus and Upper Ganges. The cost of these changes to people and the environment is huge.

Balancing people’s need for water supply and energy with protecting rivers and their ecosystems is essential. We carry out cutting-edge research to find out the flows needed to keep our rivers, lakes and wetlands alive, and to develop techniques to keep rivers flowing at the necessary levels.

The Ganges River

We work with governments and river basin organisations across the world to make sure measures to keep rivers flowing are included in policy and implemented in practice.

For example, the flow of the mighty Ganges river has changed significantly due to over-exploitation and unsustainable hydropower development, threatening the wealth of wildlife and 400 million people living in its basin.

We’ve worked on determining how much water is needed, and when, in order to keep the river alive, and meet the needs of people and nature.

With full government support, we brought together experts to develop a groundbreaking methodology to assess the needs of the Upper Ganges. We’re now adapting this approach for the whole river basin.

The Tehri dam on the Ganges River © Joerg Hartmann / WWF-Germany

Sustainable dams

What’s wrong with dams? There’s no denying they can benefit society. They can help countries develop economically, provide an important source of electricity and store water for public supply, flood protection and irrigating crops.

But they can also have devastating impacts on the environment and surrounding communities.

Dams disrupt a river’s flow, which affects habitats and species that depend on the natural fluctuations of water. They cut off the river from its floodplains and wetlands, stop sediment from replenishing habitats downstream and block migration paths.

These changes also damage the livelihoods of people who rely on healthy fisheries and wetlands.

Over 60% of the world’s 227 largest rivers have been fragmented by dams, diversions and canals. This has led to the destruction of wetlands and a decline in freshwater species including river dolphins, fish and birds. Dams have displaced an estimated 40 to 80 million people worldwide and negatively affected the lives and livelihoods of nearly 500 million.

It’s crucial to learn from past mistakes and protect the remaining free-flowing rivers. We’re not against all dams. But we believe that the benefits and costs must be carefully weighed up, and all alternatives considered before going ahead with a dam.

We cooperate with river basin commissions, government ministries, lending banks, industry and NGOs to make sure only the right dams are built in the right places, and operated in the right way.

We promote sustainable dams, designed and operated in a way that’s sensitive to the needs of the environment and local communities.

Construction site of the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze river.

We’re working with the corporation that runs the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river in China to review its water release schedules to make them more similar to the natural flow. This will help reduce the impact of the dam downstream and protect the species and livelihoods that depend on a healthy Yangtze.

We’ve also built up a close relationship with the Chinese government’s ministry of water, providing advice on water policy and management.

Read more about WWF International’s work on dams