The Amazon Waters Initiative was born in 2016 as a result of years of work and extensive collaboration to understand and conserve the aquatic ecosystems of the Amazon. In 2016 WCS convened participants of the “International Conference Amazon Waters” who shared knowledge, experience, and fundamental questions about the need for an integrated watershed management approach to protected areas management, sustainable fisheries management, and mitigating impacts of infrastructure investments. Several of them were also already collaborating to answer fundamental scientific questions for this integrated watershed approach. The conference brought together people and organizations with diverse experiences, qualifications, and interests, leading to a shared vision for a single basin: the Amazon Basin. The conference closed with the signing of the Joint Declaration of the Amazon Waters Initiative establishing 7 specific objectives, and with the launching of the website www.aguasamazonicas.org

The mission of the Amazon Waters Initiative is to coordinate science-based actions for public policy advocacy and private sector socio-environmental responsibility strategies. It seeks to conserve the connectivity of the aquatic ecosystems of the Amazon Basin and to address threats to them, especially those that require collective action at multiple scales, including transboundary watersheds and the entire Amazon Basin. Its added value is the possibility of articulated work between indigenous and civil society organizations, government entities, universities and research centers, the private sector, and multilateral agencies to achieve lasting results on a large scale.

New report on conservation targets for the aquatic ecosystems in the Amazon Basin