Guanabara Bay, a natural tropical embayment in Southeast Brazil adjacent to Rio de Janeiro, is important to the Brazilian economy as it provides areas for shipping, industry, recreation, and tourism. But commercial and residential urban development in the watershed results in water quality degradation. In Guanabara Bay, strong water quality gradients as a function of inputs and tidal flushing were evident.

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Low dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions are a recurring issue in waters of Chesapeake Bay, with detrimental effects on aquatic living resources. The Chesapeake Bay Program partnership has developed criteria guidance supporting the definition of state water quality standards and associated assessment procedures for DO and other parameters, which provides a binary classification of attainment or impairment.

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The Healthy Rivers for All partnership has created a process to develop new collaborations and partnerships in river basins to improve holistic management of water. The approach uses an inclusive process that helps communities create a common understanding of basin health, foster a shared vision for the future, and track progress in achieving goals.

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The aim of this report card is to provide a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of 2017 Coastal Bays health. Coastal Bays health is defined as the progress of four water quality indicators (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, dissolved oxygen) and two biotic indicators (seagrass, hard clams) toward scientifically derived ecological thresholds or goals.

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This newsletter summarizes the Looking for a Future in Assessment Workshop, held in University College Cork, 27th to 29th March 2018, brought together Regional Seas stakeholders, assessment organizations, and UN and other international bodies. Participants identified a strategic opportunity to work more closely together to chart desired coastal futures.

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The world’s waters are threatened by a host of problems. Impacts from human activities like development and overuse are exacerbated by changes in climate, and increased competition by different societal interests, putting vulnerable communities and ecosystems at risk. Creating a sustainable balance of water needs for both nature and people is challenging. It will require people that are competing for water resources to work together in new collaborations and partnerships.

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The first Yucatán Coast Report Card was released in April 2018, by the Laboratorio Nacional de Resiliencia Costera (LANRESC), in Sisal, Yucatán Mexico. The report card illustrates the unique connections of groundwater to important coastal resources and values through porous rock and a system of underground waterways. The report card scores indicators for biodiversity, habitat, and water resources.

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This newsletter summarizes outputs from an initial stakeholder workshop to develop the first Lower Kafue River Basin Report Card. The workshop took place on March 5–7, 2018 in Monze, Zambia.

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In past report card years, specific regions throughout Chesapeake Bay have shown improving trends, but this is the first year that the overall Chesapeake Bay is showing significant improvement. Overall Chesapeake Bay Health Scores have been variable in the past. However, since 2015, Chesapeake Bay Health Scores have consistently been in the high C range (53, 54, 54). These consecutive high scores have contributed to an overall positive trajectory for the first time.

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Ecosystem health report cards are being considered by the Ontario Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to evaluate performance measures for, and Ontario's contributions within, the Great Lakes basin community. IAN travelled to Toronto to lead an ecosystem health report card training workshop May 16–17, 2018. This newsletter summarizes the results of that training workshop.

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