Earth Day 2023: Empowering local communities as stewards of Earth’s freshwater resources

Freshwater resources such as rivers, lakes, and wetlands are central to ecosystems and sustain the lives and livelihoods of human beings everywhere, and are an integral part of the culture, spirituality, and way of life of local communities.

Unfortunately, freshwater resources are under a multitude of stresses around the world—from climate change, environmental degradation, population growth, to infrastructure development. They also have unique features that make them more challenging to manage than terrestrial resources: Many span large areas, their boundaries are often unclear and move around, they are difficult to observe, and the actions of one user may unintentionally affect others.