An analysis of Ganges River dolphin action plans was conducted. The most important current and historical action plans were reviewed to explore which recommendations have been made, how recommendations have evolved over time, explore how they were intended to be implemented and financed, evaluate whether recommendations have been enacted or achieved, and if not, why not. It is important to note that recommendations for river dolphins have been made in a large number of older reports, plans and documents and not all of these have been reviewed because the focus was primarily on recent action plans.
The following seven documents were evaluated:
- Recommendations of the First Meeting of the Asian River dolphin committee – 1992
- Recommendations of the Second Meeting of the Asian River dolphin committee -1997
- Conservation Action Plan for the Ganges River dolphin in India – 2010-2020
- Workshop to Operationalise Conservation Action Plan for the Ganges River dolphin in India, 2014
- Conservation Action Plan for Ganges River dolphin and Irrawaddy dolphin of Bangladesh – 2020-2029
- Convention on Migratory Species Concerted Action for the Ganges River dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica) – 2020
- International Whaling Commission South Asian River dolphin Task Team – 2020
The work was synthesized, providing an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the action plans and recommendations that have been made, focussing specifically on the budgeting, implementation strategies, monitoring plans, timeframe and actions. Finally the report provides some overarching conclusions and recommendations on how action plans and their implementation might be improved in the future.