Eleven countries have signed the Global Declaration for River Dolphins, a landmark international agreement committing nations to halt and reverse the decline of all river dolphin populations. The declaration — backed by 14 range countries across Asia and South America — marks the first time so many governments have aligned around a shared framework for freshwater cetacean conservation, with a goal of doubling river dolphin populations in Asia and stopping declines in South America by 2030 C.E.
At a glance
- River dolphin declaration: Fourteen range countries — including Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, and Venezuela — are committed to the pact, with 11 having signed so far. China, Indonesia, and Myanmar are pending.
- Population decline: Since the 1980s C.E., river dolphin populations worldwide have dropped by nearly 73%, driven by unsustainable fishing, pollution, illegal mining, direct hunting, and climate change.
- Freshwater cetacean conservation: The declaration calls for creating a network of protected river habitats, promoting research, collaborating with local and Indigenous communities, and eliminating unsustainable fishing practices.
A crisis in the Amazon
The urgency behind the agreement is hard to miss. In late September 2023 C.E., 154 river dolphins died in Lake Tefé in the Brazilian Amazon during an extreme drought. Water levels fell sharply, and temperatures climbed to 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit).
Researchers at the Mamirauá Institute in Brazil believe the heat may have triggered algae to release a toxin capable of attacking the central nervous system of multiple species, including dolphins. Physical barriers made of logs were built to keep dolphins away from the shallowest, most toxic areas.
“This happened in Lake Tefé in Brazil, but it can happen at any time and anywhere in the Amazon,” says Fernando Trujillo, scientific director of the Omacha Foundation and a biologist who has monitored Amazon and Orinoco river wildlife in Colombia for more than 30 years. “We’re not prepared for this. But the global declaration will generate an international cooperation mechanism for us to share lessons learned and to prepare ourselves.”
The mass death also hit communities hard. Dozens of municipalities in the Brazilian state of Amazonas declared states of emergency, with rivers too shallow to transport food and medicine. An estimated half a million people were affected.
Why river dolphins matter
River dolphins live in some of the world’s largest river systems — the Amazon, Ganges, Indus, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Orinoco, and Yangtze — where nearly one billion people live along the banks. Six species survive today: the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), the Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica), the Indus river dolphin (Platanista minor), the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), the tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), and the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides). All are threatened.
A seventh species, the baiji (Lipotes vexillifer), was declared likely extinct in 2007 C.E. — the first dolphin driven to extinction by humans in modern times.
Top predators in their ecosystems, river dolphins act as ecological indicators. When dolphins thrive, the broader river system — its fish, wildlife, and human communities — tends to be healthy too. “Dolphins play a fundamental role in the ecosystems they inhabit: They are indicators of the ecosystem’s health,” says Tarsicio Granizo, director of WWF Ecuador.
Signs of hope
The declaration was not born from despair alone. Several conservation wins show that recovery is possible when countries act with intention.
In China, the latest census of the Yangtze finless porpoise — a critically endangered species sharing the same river system where the baiji went extinct — showed a 23% population increase over five years. It was the first increase since records began, the result of strict protection measures. Around 1,249 individuals remain.
In Pakistan and India, the Indus river dolphin population has nearly doubled over the past 20 years, though only about 2,000 individuals survive. In Indonesia, signaling devices fitted to fishing nets have prevented dolphin bycatch while also increasing fish catches for local communities.
Elizabeth Campbell, a biologist at the Scientific University of the South in Peru, says the declaration creates the alignment that conservation has long needed. “What has happened is that each country has different objectives, policies and conservation areas, but dolphins aren’t assigned to a certain country or area — they move,” she says. “That’s why it’s better that countries are aligned and all have the same protection.”
Communities as the eyes and ears of rivers
One of the declaration’s most important commitments is its call to work with local and Indigenous communities — groups that have lived alongside these species for generations and hold deep knowledge of river ecosystems. Granizo points to Ecuador’s Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve and Yasuní National Park as models, where management plans are developed in coordination with Indigenous communities.
“Most are Indigenous communities that understand the conservation of these resources — which is what they’ve been doing for hundreds or thousands of years,” he says. “We need to learn from these people how to manage resources so that they’re used sustainably in the future.”
Daphne Willems, global leader of river dolphin research at WWF, echoes this. “Communities are the eyes and ears of the rivers — they live with the species.” She adds that the declaration is also a signal to those working on the ground with limited resources that their science and advocacy has reached the level of public policy.
Trujillo frames it simply: “Ten years ago, no one knew about river dolphins. Now, people are understanding that through their conservation we can open a window of opportunity for these great rivers in the world.”
Still, the declaration is only a commitment on paper. Three of the 14 range countries — China, Indonesia, and Myanmar — have not yet signed. And while the pact sets clear goals, enforcement mechanisms remain largely in the hands of individual governments. Whether political will holds through the pressures of economic development will determine whether the 2030 C.E. targets are met.
“I’m very positive,” says Willems. “I believe that we can really change the situation of river dolphins because we’ve seen it. By 2030, we’ll see a change, with the situation better for river dolphins and also entire rivers.” The IUCN Red List continues to track all surviving species as threatened — a reminder of how much the next few years will matter.
And beyond the species itself, Willems offers a broader reason to care. “We often think that nature is there in the Amazon, and that we’re here, but the reality is that we’re interconnected. That’s why I think everyone should be interested in dolphins as a symbol.”
Read more
For more on this story, see: Mongabay
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Ghana establishes a new marine protected area at Cape Three Points
- Renewables now make up at least 49% of global power capacity
- The Good News for Humankind archive on marine conservation
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