Freshwater Projects

  • The Freshwater Challenge

    The Freshwater Challenge is the world’s largest initiative to restore degraded rivers, lakes, and wetlands and to protect vital freshwater ecosystems

    A calm stretch of river in dimming light with desert shoreline and blue sky
  • Cuando River Basin Report Card

    The Cuando River Basin report card aims to strengthen transboundary water governance and inclusive decision-making mechanisms across the four countries that the basin traverses.

    Elephants against the sunset
  • Paani Program: Supporting Energy Planning & River Conservation in Nepal

    Nepal is a country rich in water resources. Many of Nepal’s rivers have been developed and many more have hydropower dams and irrigation infrastructure projects proposed on them. While these projects can bring certain services, they can also impact the cultural, environmental, and economic values that natural rivers provide. WWF and partners conducted a series of analyses to inform system-scale energy planning for safe development and river conservation.

    Landscape view of a river in a deep valley with snowcapped mountains in the background
  • Orinoco Basin Report Card

    WWF, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and several local partners collaborated to develop a report card for the Colombian portion of the Orinoco river basin. The report card will help inform management and policy decisions that impact the Orinoco, building a better future for all.

    boat on orinoco
  • The Pantanal: Saving the world’s largest tropical wetland

    Recognizing the global importance of the Pantanal and the scale of the challenges it faces, Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay are participating in a transboundary effort to conserve and sustainably develop the world’s largest tropical wetland.

    Two lakes in the Pantanal