IUCN Freshwater Conservation Committee

The Freshwater Conservation Committee is dedicated to coordinating action to conserve and restore freshwater environments around the world.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission (SSC) is the largest network of conservationists in the world. It brings together experts in species and ecosystem conservation from across the globe and has more than 10,000 members. Within the SSC there are more than 30 specialist groups which seek to advance knowledge and action to conserve freshwater species.

The Freshwater Conservation Committee was established in 2010 in order to allow the SSC to urgently address the global freshwater biodiversity crisis – extinction rates in freshwater ecosystems are estimated to be four to six times those in marine and terrestrial environments. Its mandate is to align and coordinate the conservation activities of the SSC through its specialist groups, to provide the SSC with authority and credibility in its engagement with policy processes, and to raise awareness and increase the profile of the freshwater biodiversity crisis.

Synchronicity Earth’s Freshwater Programme has supported the Freshwater Conservation Committee since 2017 in collaboration with Conservation International. Subcommittees within the IUCN SSC are run from voluntary contributions. Synchronicity Earth is therefore funding the commitment of staff time to the Freshwater Conservation Committee, in turn building the committee’s capacity to coordinate freshwater biodiversity conservation through both the SSC, and the wider IUCN.