Such management
strategies are intended to conserve terrestrial ecosystems, have design
and implementation deficiencies, or fail to account for the hydrologic connectivity
of freshwater ecosystems. There is an urgent need to shift the Amazon
conservation paradigm, broadening its current forest-centric focus to encompass
the freshwater ecosystems that are vital components of the basin. This
is possible by developing a river catchment-based conservation framework for
the whole basin that protects both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.