Protecting lakes through science, partnerships and people

By Freshwater Biological Association

World Lake Day is an opportunity to celebrate some of the planet's most valuable freshwater ecosystems and recognise the vital role they play in supporting biodiversity, tackling climate change and improving people's lives.

Although lakes cover less than two per cent of the Earth's surface, they store a significant proportion of the world's accessible surface freshwater and provide habitats for an extraordinary diversity of plants and animals. They supply drinking water, support fisheries, help regulate floods, store carbon and provide places for recreation, education and scientific research. Healthy lakes are also powerful indicators of the health of our wider environment.

Yet many lakes are under increasing pressure. Pollution, nutrient enrichment, habitat degradation, climate change, invasive non-native species and growing demands from agriculture and human activity are changing freshwater ecosystems at an unprecedented rate. Understanding how lakes are responding to these pressures is essential if we are to protect them for future generations.

For the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA), World Lake Day is an opportunity not only to celebrate these remarkable ecosystems, but also to highlight the importance of long-term scientific monitoring and the growing role that citizen scientists can play in safeguarding freshwater biodiversity.

Building a better understanding of lake health

Lakes are dynamic ecosystems. Changes in water quality, temperature, nutrient levels and habitat condition can alter the delicate balance of life they support, often long before these changes become obvious to people visiting them.

Monitoring these changes over many years allows scientists to understand how lake ecosystems are responding to environmental pressures and identify where conservation action is needed. However, compared with rivers, many lakes – particularly smaller and more remote waterbodies – have historically received relatively little routine ecological monitoring.

Citizen science is helping to change that.

By enabling trained volunteers to collect reliable ecological information across large geographical areas, citizen science projects can generate datasets that would be impossible for researchers to collect alone. These long-term records provide invaluable evidence for understanding ecological change and supporting evidence-based conservation and environmental policy.

Lakefly: volunteers helping to monitor and protect our lakes

One of the FBA's newest citizen science initiatives is Lakefly, which enables volunteers to monitor the ecological health of lakes by surveying freshwater invertebrates living in shallow lake margins.

Developed by the FBA in partnership with Natural England and funded through Defra's Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme, Lakefly adapts the successful Riverfly citizen science approach for lakes. Using a straightforward sampling method and easy-to-learn identification guide, volunteers collect information on freshwater invertebrates – animals that are recognised as excellent indicators of environmental quality.

These Lakefly surveys help scientists build a clearer picture of how lake ecosystems are changing over time. As the dataset grows, it will become increasingly valuable for identifying emerging pressures such as declining water quality, pollution, habitat degradation and the ecological impacts of climate change.

Strong foundations for the future

During 2025, volunteer groups across England took part in the first Lakefly pilot programme, testing survey methods while collecting valuable biological records from lakes.

The pilot demonstrated not only that volunteers could successfully collect high-quality ecological data, but also that there is strong enthusiasm for lake monitoring across the UK. Since then, volunteers have continued surveying, with interest in future participation now extending across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Although the project is currently seeking funding to support its next phase, the volunteer network continues to grow, with survey records now being submitted through the Cartographer recording platform to create a secure, national database for future research.

“Every record adds to the picture, and the more months and seasons we cover, the more the data can tell us. This is the part that turns Lakefly from a promising pilot into something that stands up to scrutiny.” – Henry Marriner, Senior Development Manager for the Riverfly Partnership at the Freshwater Biological Association

Every volunteer makes a difference

Citizen scientists are becoming an increasingly important part of freshwater conservation.

By contributing regular observations over many months and years, volunteers help scientists detect long-term environmental change that would otherwise go unnoticed. The information collected through Lakefly will help researchers better understand how freshwater invertebrate communities respond to multiple pressures, including pollution, climate change, habitat degradation, land-use change and agricultural impacts.

These data are critical for identifying changes in lake health, informing conservation management and supporting the evidence needed to protect freshwater ecosystems into the future.

“The FBA is heavily invested in Lakefly. It's a great example of citizen science in action. Monitoring lake ecology is often under-resourced and Lakefly helps to fill critical gaps in knowledge with robust citizen science and data. Securing sustainable funding will enable the FBA to unlock the programme's full potential and continue building this valuable network of volunteers and partners.” – Simon Johnson, Executive Director of the Freshwater Biological Association

Celebrating lakes by helping to protect them

This World Lake Day, the message is clear: healthy lakes are essential for healthy freshwater ecosystems, thriving wildlife and resilient communities.

Protecting them requires collaboration between scientists, conservation organisations, policymakers, local communities and volunteers. By working together to collect high-quality scientific evidence, we can better understand how our lakes are changing, identify emerging threats and target conservation action where it is needed most.

Projects such as Lakefly demonstrate how communities can play a part in freshwater science. Every survey completed, every freshwater invertebrate identified and every record submitted helps build the evidence needed to protect the UK's lakes for generations to come.

As we celebrate World Lake Day 2026, FBA’s Lakefly project provides an inspiring example of how citizen science is connecting people with freshwater habitats while delivering the knowledge needed to conserve some of our most valuable ecosystems in an increasingly uncertain world.

You can find out more about the Lakefly citizen science project and explore useful resources on the Freshwater Biological Association website.

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