The Ramsar conference has approved the Mexican model of water reserves to secure the viability of freshwater ecosystems in the face of human impacts including climate change. The Mexican National Water Reserves Programme aims to establish 189 water reserves protecting Ramsar sites and 97 protected areas. The Ramsar resolution calls on all member countries to identify environmental flows to secure their wetlands.

More than 70 organisations - national and local government, business and organisations including WWF – agreed the Pantanal Pact in June to safeguard 700km of river systems in Brazil’s State of Mato Grosso providing about a third of the water for the Pantanal floodplain, which supports important biodiversity and 3-million people.