By making use of enabling legislation passed into law by the Maryland General Assembly, the Charles County Board of Commissioners introduced a local ordinance to establish a nonprofit organization as a government instrumentality capable of financing and contracting for climate change-related projects, both in the public and private sectors. This is the first such entity of its kind in the state of Maryland, and perhaps the entire country.

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The Patuxent River is a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed is home to protected wetlands, bald eagles, valuable local history, and a growing population of residents. UMCES aims to produce a report card assessing social, economic, and environmental conditions in and around the Patuxent, with the goal of engaging members of the community to preserve and restore this essential Maryland river.

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To facilitate watershed management, watershed models are often developed and used to assess the expected impact of scenarios of past and future management policies and practices and the impact of watershed conditions. However, the level of load reductions estimated using monitoring data often does not match with model predictions, leading to questions around the level of effort and investment being made in restoration activities and the reliability of the model.

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The Rogue River region faces challenges that require innovative solutions. Habitat loss, invasive species, stream-side development, and other factors put watershed health at risk. The Rogue River Watershed Council strives to engage people of all ages and levels of education while working with organizations and landowners to conserve and improve streams and the land that surrounds them. Their work is vital to the community, land, and wildlife in the region because we all depend on water.

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Project Summary … PacPath is a Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA) funded by national funding agencies in France, Germany, and the USA. The project is a partnership among 13 institutions and researchers in France, Germany, Fiji, and New Caledonia to generate common understanding of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14, Life Below Water) in the South Pacific region.

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The Integration and Application Network (IAN) has been working with the Harte Research Institute (HRI) since 2012 with the long-term goal of establishing a report card for the Gulf of Mexico. In 2019, we published the first Texas Coast Ecosystem Health Report Card as a significant first step towards this goal.

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Addressing many of the challenges society faces, including climate change, food and water insecurity, and biodiversity loss, requires a better understanding of the interactions between people and their environment. Important interactions depend on scale (e.g., individuals, communities, government) and environmental conditions, suggesting the value in a landscape perspective.

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IAN is partnering with Council Fire, LLC, the Erb Family Foundation, and The Clinton River Watershed Council, Friends of the Detroit River, Huron River Watershed Council, River Raisin Watershed Council, and Friends of the Rouge River, to create socio-environmental report cards for these 5 rivers, and a report card that integrates the results into an assessment of the Detroit Michigan region.

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The Delaware Center for Inland Bays is working to oversee and facilitate the implementation of a long-term approach for the wise use and enhancement of the Inland Bays watershed. The Center’s mission is “to preserve, protect and restore Delaware’s Inland Bays and their watershed,” which is achieved through education, outreach, science & research, restoration, and public policy.

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The initial workshop to develop the Cuando River Basin Report Card took place from 9–11 March, 2020 in Kasane, Botswana. More than 35 diverse stakeholders from 19 institutions came together at this workshop to conceptualize the river basin, create a shared vision, and discuss indicators for the Cuando River Basin Report Card. The report card aims to strengthen transboundary water governance and inclusive decision making mechanisms across the four countries that the basin transverses:

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