This report assesses the health of the Upper Rio Grande, a portion of the broader Rio Grande / Rio Bravo river that runs from Rocky Mountains in Colorado, through New Mexico, to the Gulf of Mexico. The Upper Rio Grande basin supports around 6 million people in the US, including over 20 Tribal Nations and Pueblos, and unique species like the Silvery Minnow, Southwest Willow Flycatcher birds, and the Rio Grande cottonwood tree.

This guide is intended for those working to assess and manage resources, especially those interested in developing river basin health report cards. It reflects on the indicators that have historically been used for basin report cards and presents new ways to think of indicators, as the interface between nature and people becomes more and more intertwined. It is a supplementary guide to the Practitioner’s Guide to Developing River Basin Report Cards.

10 Rivers at Risk highlights threats posed by hydropower to free-flowing rivers & the diverse benefits they provide to people and nature. The report includes case studies of the 10 priority rivers that are threatened around the world: Asia—Mekong, Irrawaddy and Sepik; Europe—Vjosa, Vistula, and Isel; Africa—Mara and Kavango; and Latin America and the Caribbean—Tapajos and Upper Paraguay. To save these rivers, governments, developers, and investors can act to reassess renewable energy portfolios that focus on low cost, low carbon, and low conflict energy options to benefit the rivers and surrounding communities.

Undervalued and overlooked, the world's freshwater fish are critical for the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people—and the health of rivers, lakes, and wetlands—but 1/3rd of them are already threatened with extinction. Promoting thriving populations of freshwater fishes and the ecosystems within which they thrive is a priority for WWF and the 15 organizations and alliances that produced this report.

To protect the world’s most vital, free-flowing rivers, WWF is undertaking a four-part strategy that includes strategic energy and basin planning, policy protections for rivers and communities, advocacy and outreach, and science and thought leadership.

With thousands of hydropower dams planned across the globe, a report from WWF and The Nature Conservancy demonstrates how we can solve the world’s climate and energy challenge without sacrificing our remaining free-flowing rivers and the diverse benefits they provide to people and nature.

Contextual Water Targets are the first step for any company looking to adopt a Science-Based Target for Water. Taking a contextual approach to setting water performance targets enables a company to become more responsive to local water challenges and to set up internal processes to manage locally specific water performance targets.

The Tuul River Basin Report Card—the first of its kind in Mongolia—assesses the basin's health through social, environmental and economic values that can be tracked over time in response to management actions and/or external pressures. 

The Living Planet Report documents the state of the planet—including biodiversity, ecosystems, and demand for natural resources—and what it means for humans and wildlife. Published by WWF every two years, the report brings together a variety of research to provide a comprehensive view of the health of the Earth.

Seven companies made public commitments around water that reflected their leadership and their understanding that they can be a powerful and constructive force for people and planet. This report covers their individual goals and some of the progress made in the year following the launch of the AgWater Challenge.

Natural and Nature-Based Flood Management: A Green Guide introduces an integrated framework for flood management, drawing on policy, green infrastructure and conventional engineering to help communities adapt and better manage growing flood risk.

The Living Planet Report, produced every two years by WWF, is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet. By providing an overview of the state of the natural world, human impacts and potential solutions, it aims to support governments, communities, businesses and organizations to make informed decisions on using and protecting the planet’s resources.

With our partners at University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science, WWF is producing, packaging, and sharing a process that can mainstream report card development in basins around the world. By developing report cards in a variety of basins, we can move closer to our goal of securing fresh water for people and nature. 

Societies have gone to extraordinary efforts to harness the power of rivers. The world is now poised to double the global hydropower capacity by 2040, along with continued expansion of associated infrastructure rivers. Governments, communities, companies, and conservation organizations are seeking ways to ensure that this development can meet needs for energy and water while maintaining healthy rivers.

This briefing paper provides and overview on how the private sector can—and already is—helping deliver on global goals, particularly the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6 on ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Although metrics such as water use efficiency ratios are commonly employed within businesses to measurably demonstrate progress, assessing the benefits of water projects beyond a company’s four walls is much more difficult. To fill the gap, some companies are developing “replenish” methodologies to capture how quantitative or qualitative water benefits can be calculated for a given water-related community activity or conservation project.

California is in the midst of a multi-year drought—-the worst in 1200 years—and according to climate scientists, this is just the beginning. Hardest hit is Central Valley, a large, flat region that is home to some of the country’s most productive agricultural areas. Here, WWF is helping businesses use the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) to earn recognition for existing water improvements, identify gaps and risks, and connect with others who use shared freshwater resources.

This newsletter captures the outputs of the first workshop for developing a basin report card for the Meta River, a crucial tributary to the Orinoco. Held in Puerto Lopez, the workshop gathering input from diverse stakeholders and began to reveal how people and nature value the Meta’s freshwater ecosystems.