Freshwater
Freshwater Programme
The freshwater programme addresses an urgent but largely unrecognised conservation crisis. As industrial water use has risen and human development pressures intensified, freshwater habitats have been pushed further and further away from the natural conditions in which species evolved. This has had dramatic implications for their survival. Since 1970 the abundance of freshwater species has declined by 81%, and 28% of critically endangered species are now found in freshwater environments.
Despite these harrowing headlines, the plight of freshwater species continues to be overlooked. Broadly speaking – public awareness is low, funding meagre, and action insufficient. The freshwater programme seeks to address this by raising support for freshwater species conservation, grassroots community efforts to conserve river systems, and connecting these struggles in priority watersheds to build a more powerful and coherent message for freshwater ecosystem protection. It is a huge task, but one which an organisation dedicated to tackling overlooked and underfunded conservation challenges cannot neglect.
Current partners in our Freshwater Programme

Living River Association
Synchronicity Earth has supported Living River Association for their work to conserve the Mekong river and its tributaries in Northern Thailand since 2013. The Mekong has the largest inland
IUCN Freshwater Conservation Sub-Committee
Synchronicity Earth supported the IUCN Freshwater Conservation Subcommittee (FCSC) in 2017 in collaboration with Conservation International. The IUCN Species Survival Commission is the lar
International Rivers
Synchronicity Earth, provided core funding to International Rivers for the first time in 2017 to support their work building a stronger global movement of grassroots organisations working to
International Rivers Africa Programme
Synchronicity Earth has supported International Rivers’ Africa Programme since 2013. Africa is a dry continent, yet it is also home to some of the world’s great river systems: the Nile,
Green ID
Synchronicity Earth supported Green ID’s work in the Mekong delta in 2014 and 2015 to ensure communities are able to participate actively in decision-making processes that will affect them
IUCN Freshwater Biodiversity Unit
The Freshwater Biodiversity Unit of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is working to raise the profile of freshwater biodiversity. Hidden beneath the surface, frFreshwater News
If you support a Programme with a donation, all your funding goes to that Programme. We do not deduct management charges. To find out more about this Programme, contact us.