To build the Freshwater Network, we’re focusing on 24 Important Freshwater Landscapes across the country.
Important Freshwater Landscapes are identified at a 10km2 resolution, and contain a mixture of Important Freshwater Areas and areas of less importance for freshwater biodiversity. Note that many Important Freshwater Areas exist outside of Important Freshwater Landscapes. Important Freshwater Landscape boundaries are indicative, and intended to illustrate broad spatial patterns of freshwater biodiversity at the national level. Boundaries are not suitable for interpretation at the land-parcel level.
You can download the zip folder to access the GIS shapefile to make your own map.
Find all the key information of the GIS shapefile in the metadata file within the folder. Important Freshwater Landscape boundaries are fuzzy, and should be interpreted using local knowledge to identify appropriate locations for freshwater conservation action. A full description of the development of the data layer is given in our recent research paper in Ecological Solutions and Evidence (Biggs et al. 2025).
Find out more about Important Freshwater Landscapes.