The conservation and restoration of freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity can be enhanced with ecopracticology

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most degraded on the planet and there is strong evidence that freshwater biodiversity is in precipitous decline. To that end, there is urgent need to conserve and restore freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity in order to ensure that freshwaters continue to yield diverse ecosystem services. Although there is some scientific uncertainty about how to do so, there is recognition that practitioners play a particularly important role. Practitioners work on the front line with a focus on implementing various environmental interventions and therefore can bridge the gap between knowledge and action in a unique way given their extensive experience in the field. Yet, practitioners do not know it all, nor do they have access or time to keep up-to-date on the growing scientific evidence base. Ecopracticology (i.e., the study of socio-ecological practice and the ensuing body of knowledge) is, therefore, a useful construct for thinking about the ways in which different disciplinary domains and ways of knowing to intersect to generate or refine knowledge and evidence needed to implement actions that benefit people and the environment. Ecopracticology is inherently grounded in that most practitioners are environmental stewards who deliver solutions alone and/or in partnership with diverse stakeholders and rightsholders. Ecopracticology, therefore, represents both the challenge and opportunity for addressing the freshwater biodiversity crisis. Here we consider what ecopracticology has to offer, and strategies for realizing the pathways that enable knowledge exchange and implementation for on-the-ground/in-the-water practitioner actions benefitting conservation and restoration of freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity. If this concept is embraced and practitioners are supported and championed, there is potential for rapid advances that are desperately needed to conserve and restore freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity.