FEOW

Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (FEOW) is a global biogeographic framework and accompanying dataset used to categorize the planet’s freshwater ecosystems into distinct ecoregions. Designed to reflect patterns in freshwater biodiversity and environmental conditions, FEOW groups rivers, lakes, wetlands, and other freshwater systems into geographic units that share similar species assemblages and ecological characteristics. The framework is nested within larger biogeographic contexts such as realms and basins, enabling comparative analyses across scales.

FEOW originated from collaborative work by researchers and conservation organizations in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and has since been refined and expanded. It provides a standardized set of boundaries and descriptions intended to support biodiversity assessments, conservation planning, and ecological research. The ecoregions are defined using a combination of hydrological data, climate variables, land use information, and observed aquatic biota, with boundaries typically corresponding to watershed and drainage-area characteristics.

The project offers GIS-ready boundary data and a descriptive atlas, facilitating map-based analyses and integration into conservation prioritization, impact assessments, and policy development. It is widely used by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and researchers as a framework for evaluating freshwater biodiversity patterns, allocating conservation resources, and monitoring changes over time.

FEOW data and maps are commonly hosted on the official FEOW platform, which provides access to boundaries, regional descriptions, and related resources. The framework is a tool for understanding global freshwater biodiversity and guiding stewardship of freshwater ecosystems.