ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on what needs to be done to optimize freshwater species conservation. It also focuses on what can be done within the boundaries of protected areas (PAs) to help ensure the persistence of species and to reduce the risks of their local or global extinction. This information will support, and must be complemented by, what must be done outside PAs to ensure the persistence of the species, which includes actions planned and implemented at the scale of entire catchment, country, continent or the globe. For many bird species, substantial information may be needed to place a species along each of the two major gradients relevant to their dependence on freshwater: the terrestrial–aquatic gradient and the marine–freshwater gradient. Prioritizing conservation actions for species facing major multiple threats is particularly difficult when there are large uncertainties about many of these threats. Climate change clearly puts the future of species like the Saimaa ringed seal in the balance.
