What We Do

Currently, 80% of the global population is threatened with insufficient water quantity or quality and only less than 1% of the freshwater on Earth is accessible for human use. It is estimated that by 2030 our planet’s need for water will outstrip its reliable supply by 40%.

 

OUR MISSION

The Freshwater Health Index is a web-based tool that measures system health by making clear connections between freshwater ecosystems, the benefits they provide to people, and the governance system in place. The FHI is intended to be applied at the drainage basin scale, where resource management decisions are most relevant and decision support is likely to be most useful, but it can also be applied at smaller or larger scales. It can also be adapted to meet socio-political, economic, and ecological variations as well as data availability and informational needs.

WHAT IT IS

The Freshwater Health Index (FHI) allows resource managers, engineers, policymakers, and other stakeholders to evaluate scenarios, understand tradeoffs, prioritize interventions and communicate basin health with a broad audience by:

  • Transforming data into commonly scaled indicators (on a 0-100 scale), providing a baseline diagnosis of a basin’s health.

  • Tracking freshwater health over time through an iterative process between scientists, end-users, and other stakeholders for a result that is salient, credible, and useful.

  • Evaluating potential impacts from climate change, land-cover change, population growth, and water allocation decisions.

HOW IT WORKS

The FHI consists of 3 major components of freshwater ecosystem health: Ecosystem Vitality, Ecosystem Services, Governance & Stakeholders. Within each component, there are indicators that transparently assess the health of freshwater systems in their ecological and social dimensions, quantifying and mapping the multiple benefits that freshwater naturally provides. Local stakeholders’ input is used to weigh the importance of some indicators.

The integrity and functioning of the ecosystem itself such as diversity of plant and animal species, water flows well, wetlands, etc.

The benefits people receive from a freshwater ecosystem such as water to drink, food to eat, protection from floods, etc.

The structures and processes in place, by which people make decisions related to water resources, for example, capacity, transparency, rights, etc.

BASIN SCORES

The FHI evaluates basin health across three separate components: Ecosystem Vitality, Ecosystem Services and Governance & Stakeholders. For a given basin, a unique value for each of the three components is calculated (on a 0-100 scale). By presenting indices for each of the three components separately, it is easier to see which components are functioning better toward freshwater sustainability and which need further attention to increase overall sustainability. High values across all three of the indices indicate a more sustainable, healthy freshwater ecosystem than indices at the lower end of the scale.

The scores give a baseline evaluation of freshwater health and can users can also evaluate future scenarios, including land-use change, infrastructure development and climate change. 

Testimonials

Alto Mayo, Peru

Carlos Alberto Solis Macedo Local Water Administrator of Alto Mayo

Guandu, Brazil

Denise Tarin
Attorney General – Public Prosecutor's Office of Rio de Janeiro

Dongjiang, China

Zhang Cheng South China Programme Manager – International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)