Viewpoint:
Freshwater biodiversity encompasses genes, populations, species, communities, and ecosystems, and provides essential ecosystem services that are fundamental for human livelihoods and well-being. Freshwater biodiversity, however, is disproportionately threatened at unprecedented rates. The most recent Living Planet Report documents on average 84% decline of abundances of 3,741 monitored populations – representing 944 vertebrate species –in freshwater habitats since 1970, the steepest decline of any of the major realms: land, oceans, and fresh waters (WWF 2020). Yet, research on and conservation of freshwater biodiversity have been insufficiently prioritized. Freshwater biodiversity remains underappreciated relative to marine and terrestrial biodiversity (Dudgeon et al. 2006; Reid et al. 2019; van Rees et al. 2020). International and intergovernmental science-policy platforms and funding agencies continue to fall short of giving freshwater biodiversity its rightful place in global biodiversity, climate, and socio-economic forums (Darwall et al. 2018; Tickner et al.2020; Heino et al. 2021), often including freshwater biodiversity in the terrestrial realm or simply overlooking it.
We propose an agenda to advance freshwater biodiversity research as a critical step in supporting and improving coordinated action towards its sustainable management and conservation. Our agenda informs funding provision, provides guidance to civil society and governmental agencies, and spurs scientists and policymakers to engage with each other to support informed global freshwater biodiversity stewardship. Our agenda does not constitute an exhaustive assessment of all priority needs, nor does it aim to rank them. Instead we identify fifteen pressing global needs, grouped into five major research areas to support conservation and management actions (Fig. 1). The global needs reflect the collective opinion of the coauthors based on responses to a consultation conducted in 2020 and described in the supplementary document.
Data infrastructure – Establish and empower information hubs for the acquisition, mobilization, integration, and provision of data across all areas of freshwater biodiversity research. Concrete action steps include:
Monitoring – Strategic programs that efficiently and comprehensively document the status and trends of development of freshwater biodiversity are key to research, management, and conservation. Necessary steps include:
Ecology – Ecological context is key to conservation and management, as are the interactions among organisms and the environment that determine the responses to global change. We advocated developing research to identify major local, regional, and global drivers affecting patterns of change in freshwater biodiversity. Required steps includes:
Management Enhance science-based strategies and methods for sustainable freshwater biodiversity management. Necessary steps include:
Socio-ecology – Considering freshwater biodiversity in its socio-economic context and societal responses to biodiversity change and conservation are essential to design conservation implementation strategies. Proposed steps include:
In conclusion, we propose an ambitious agenda to initiate and further support the strategic development of freshwater biodiversity research to document patterns, processes and changes, and to improve management and conservation. Our agenda provides a framework for the pressing needs to counter the unprecedented global challenges faced by freshwater biodiversity. The proposed steps underscore major research priorities to cultivate informed global action to protect and sustainably manage freshwater biodiversity. Research needs and priorities vary regionally, and the development of regional agendas and priorities are an essential next step. Clearly, the current freshwater biodiversity crisis requires defining bold goals and mobilizing substantial resources to meet the challenges. We call upon scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders to provide the necessary support for a powerful agenda to protect our fresh waters, which provide the key resources for the sustainable development and functioning of our societies.