1. The flow regime is a primary determinant of the structure and function of aquatic and riparian ecosystems for streams and rivers. Hydrologic alteration has impaired riverine ecosystems on a global scale, and the pace and intensity of human development greatly exceeds the ability of scientists to assess the effects on a river-by-river basis. Current scientific understanding of hydrologic controls on riverine ecosystems and experience gained from individual river studies support development of environmental flow standards at the regional scale. 2. This paper presents a consensus view from a group of international scientists on a new framework for assessing environmental flow needs for many streams and rivers simultaneously to foster development and implementation of environmental flow standards at the regional scale. This framework, the ecological limits of hydrologic alteration (ELOHA), is a synthesis of a number of existing hydrologic techniques and environmental flow methods that are currently being used to various degrees and that can support comprehensive regional flow management. The flexible approach allows

Despite their limited spatial extent, freshwater ecosystems host remarkable biodiversity, including one-third of all vertebrate species. This biodiversity is declining dramatically: Globally, wetlands are vanishing three times faster than forests, and freshwater vertebrate populations have fallen more than twice as steeply as terrestrial or marine populations. Threats to freshwater biodiversity are well documented but coordinated action to reverse the decline is lacking. We present an Emergency Recovery Plan to bend the curve of freshwater biodiversity loss. Priority actions include accelerating implementation of environmental flows; improving water quality; protecting and restoring critical habitats; managing the exploitation of freshwater ecosystem resources, especially species and riverine aggregates; preventing and controlling nonnative species invasions; and safeguarding and restoring river connectivity. We recommend adjustments to targets and indicators for the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals and roles for national and international state and nonstate actors.

Around the world, there is an increasing desire, supported by national and regional policies and legislation, to conserve or restore the ecological health and functioning of rivers and their associated wetlands for human use and biodiversity. To achieve this, many organisations have developed methods for defining environmental flows, i.e. the flow regime required in a river to achieve desired ecological objectives. This paper reviews the various methods available and suggests a simple categorisation of the methods into four types: look-up tables, desktop analysis; functional analysis and hydraulic habitat modelling. No method is necessarily better than another; each may be suitable for different applications. Whilst look-up methods are easy and cheap to apply, they can be expensive to develop, are less accurate and more suitable for scoping studies; in contrast, although hydraulic habitat modelling is more expensive to apply, it is suitable for impact assessment at specific sites. Each method would need to be used within a wider decision-support framework. These are generally either objective-based to define a target flow regime for a specific desired river status, or scenario-based to indicate the relative merits of various flow regime options for the river environment.

It is widely accepted that wetlands have a significant influence on the hydrological cycle. Wetlands have therefore become important elements in water management policy at national, regional and international level. There are many examples where wetlands reduce floods, recharge groundwater or augment low flows. Less recognised are the many examples where wetlands increase floods, act as a barrier to recharge, or reduce low flows. This paper presents a database of 439 published statements on the water quantity functions of wetlands from 169 studies worldwide. This establishes a benchmark of the aggregated knowledge of wetland influences upon downstream river flows and groundwater aquifers. Emphasis is placed on hydrological functions relating to gross water balance, groundwater recharge, base flow and low flows, flood response and river flow variability. The functional statements are structured according to wetland hydrological type and the manner in which functional conclusions have been drawn. A synthesis of functional statements establishes the balance of scientific evidence for particular hydrological measures. The evidence reveals strong concurrence for some hydrological measures for certain wetland types. For other hydrological measures, there is diversity of functions for apparently similar wetlands. The balance of scientific evidence that emerges gives only limited support to the generalised model of flood control, recharge promotion and flow maintenance by wetlands portrayed throughout the 1990s as one component of the basis for wetland policy formulation. That support is confined largely to floodplain wetlands, while many other wetland types perform alternate functions partly or fully. This paper provides the first step towards a more scientifically defensible functional assessment system.

Flooding is a very costly natural hazard in the UK and is expected to increase further under future climate change scenarios. Flood defences are commonly deployed to protect communities and property from flooding, but in recent years flood management policy has looked towards solutions that seek to mitigate flood risk at flood-prone sites through targeted interventions throughout the catchment, sometimes using techniques which involve working with natural processes. This paper describes a project to provide a succinct summary of the natural science evidence base concerning the effectiveness of catchment-based ‘natural’ flood management in the UK. The evidence summary is designed to be read by an informed but not technically specialist audience. Each evidence statement is placed into one of four categories describing the nature of the underlying information. The evidence summary forms the appendix to this paper and an annotated bibliography is provided in the electronic supplementary material.