This website contains the global knowledge base of best practices for river dolphin conservation and management. It was created in 2021 during an 8-month project commissioned by the World Bank and WWF, to study global best practices and identify those that would help the effective and sustainable conservation of the endangered Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica). The project facilitated the collection of best practices and information from across the globe, which were then collated on this website.
The global best practices were analysed by a wide variety of stakeholders in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and are being used to elaborate recommendations to better protect the Ganges river dolphin and reduce the negative impacts of development projects, including those supported by the World Bank. It is worth noting that mitigating all the impacts of major water infrastructure projects is nearly impossible, so avoidance and looking for alternative designs and locations are the most effective strategies.
A global team of experts based in WWF’s River Dolphin Rivers Initiative brought together these best practices and the literature database. Many other people were also involved in the completion and peer-review of the information presented.
