Michel Roggo - The Freshwater Project




In 2010, with 25 years of experience and more than 100 expeditions worldwide, Michel Roggo started The Freshwater Project : photographing freshwater locations from across the globe, this in compliance with the values and ethical standards of the International League of Conservation Photographers iLCP. He finished the project in 2017, with 40 photographed freshwater locations. Approximately 12,000 images were produced for the project, and about 7,000 are shown on this site.

The Trailer


North America

Sermeq Kujalleq, Kalaallit Nunaat or Greenland One of the most active glaciers and its icebergs : 2014 - 2019 236 Images	Sermersuaq, Kalaallit Nunaat or Greenland The Ice Sheet with its meltwater lakes and channels : 2014 148 Images

Northern Rockies, British Columbia, Canada Untouched waterscapes : 2011 - 2022 284 Images	Adams River, British Columbia, Canada Millions of spawning Sockeye salmon : 2010 116 Images

Québec rivers, Canada Atlantic salmon on spawning migration : 2009 68 Images	Floridan Aquifer, USA Artesian water from the underground : 2011 - 2012 136 Images

Cenotes, Quintana Roo, Mexico Sinkholes and lagoons in Maya territory : 2014 - 2016 228 Images


South America

Rio Negro Igapó, Brazil The flooded Amazonian rainforest : 2011 - 2019 105 Images	Rio Agua Boa do Univiní, Brazil The small Amazonian rainforest river: 2011 100 Images

Pantanal, Brazil The world’s largest tropical wetland : 2012 - 2018 308 Images	Abismo Anhumas, Mato Gross du Sul, Brazil An abyss filled with crystal clear water : 2011 - 2017 68 Images

Serra da Bodoquena, Brazil Tropical rivers full of life : 2011 - 2018 120 Images	Iguazu Falls, Brazil and Argentina The largest waterfalls system in the world : 2016 27 Images


Europe

Thingvellir, Iceland A tectonic fissure filled with freshwater : 2009 72 Images	Ume älven, Swedish Lapland In the tracks of Carl von Linné : 2011 - 2019 264 Images

River Itchen, England Crown jewel of the chalk streams : 2012 120 Images	Düdinger Möser and Êtang de la Gruère, Switzerland Mysterious peat bogs : 2013 - 2024 208 Images

Jogne River, Switzerland An enchanted karst spring : 2011 - 2025 336 Images	Lake Montsalvens, Switzerland A hundred year old reservoir : 2020 - 2021 281 Images

Hongrin River, Switzerland A wild mountain torrent : 2006 - 2021 351 Images	Sense River, Switzerland The last unspoiled Swiss river : 2011 - 2021 264 Images

Lacs de Fenêtre, Switzerland Seven months under thick ice : 2011 - 2020 94 Images	Gorner Glacier, Switzerland A fast melting alpine glacier : 2013 - 2020 303 Images

Lake Morat, Switzerland Lakes and rivers in former marshland : 2018 244 Images	Lake Bienne, Switzerland Lakes and rivers in former marshland : 2018 - 2019 124 Images

Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland Lakes and rivers in former marshland : 2017 - 2019 276 Images	Verzasca River, Switzerland A mountain torrent of outstanding beauty : 2011 - 2021 248 Images

Aare River, Switzerland Wetland restoration to enhance biodiversity : 2021 - 2022 284 Images	Sava Dolinka and Sava Bohinjka, Slovenia The spectacular spring creeks of the Sava River : 2009 - 2016 132 Images

Plitvicka Jezera, Croatia Sixteen lakes created by travertine barriers : 2012 88 Images	Rijeka Gacka, Croatia A giant karst spring : 2012 92 Images

Danube Delta, Romania The best preserved european river delta : 2014 - 2015 136 Images	Rio Tinto, Spain Acidic water with extremophile anaerobic bacteria : 2018 - 2019 51 Images


Africa

Lake Malawi, Malawi The richest lake fish fauna in the world : 2015 112 Images	Okavango, Botswana A river delta in the Kalahari desert : 2014 100 Images

Mosi-oa-Tunya or Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Zambia The world’s largest sheet of falling water : 2014 84 Images


Asia

Wadis of the Hajar Mountains, Oman Crystal clear water in the desert : 2015 120 Images	Wadi Wurayah, United Arab Emirates Freshwater in the middle of the desert : 2010 - 2011 92 Images

Ozero Baykal, Siberia, Russia The oldest, largest and deepest lake on earth : 2013 - 2019 328 Images	Temnik River, Buryatia, Russia Spring on a very wild siberian river : 2015 144 Images

Kuril’skoye Ozero, Kamchatka, Russia Hundreds of fishing Brown Bears : 2012 176 Images	Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan, China A World Heritage Site of outstanding beauty : 2013 - 2015 141 Images

Huanglong, Sichuan, China Travertine pools in the Min Mountains : 2013 - 2015 112 Images	Gunung Mulu, Sarawak, Malaysia Rainforest rivers flowing through caves : 2012 124 Images


Oceania

Limestone Coast, South Australia Spring-fed limestone ponds and sinkholes : 2015 144 Images	Te Waikoropupu, New Zealand A sacred place for the Maori : 2013 68 Images

Rotomairewhenua, New Zealand The clearest freshwater ever reported : 2013 64 Images


Antarctia

Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica Glaciers, meltwater streams and icebergs : 2017 88 Images	Ross Sea, Antarctica The largest ice shelf on earth : 2017 96 Images

Cape Adare, Antarctica Melting glaciers and icebergs : 2017 108 Images


About the Project
"As one of the few professional photographers specialising in underwater images of freshwater landscapes and species we strongly support Michel’s work “to produce a photographic documentation of 30 important freshwater environments from across the globe, focusing on underwater images, as a contribution to safeguarding the future of the world's wetland areas”. We see the need for raising public awareness of the beauty of underwater freshwater habitats and species through images such as these as a most important contribution to IUCN’s own work towards valuing and conserving nature."
Dr William Darwall, former Head of the IUCN Freshwater Biodiversity Unit

The Project at	The Book	The Project at


The Fribourg Exhibit	The Basel Exhibit	The Zurich Exhibit