Through their rhythms and flows, rivers connect diverse peoples, species, places, and ideas. This session explores the concept of social-ecological connectivity, which highlights the intricate relationships and flows that rivers sustain between natural and human systems. Rivers provide numerous benefits to humanity and ecosystems, from nutrient cycling and habitat provisioning to serving as migratory pathways for wildlife, and people. Equally, they hold cultural significance, shaping human experiences of seasonality, identity, and place. These dynamics are especially pronounced in tropical regions, where both biological and cultural diversity are exceptionally high. Many tropical communities live in close connection with riverscapes, relying on them for sustenance, livelihoods, and spiritual practices. As tropical rivers represent some of the world’s last remaining free-flowing systems, they also offer invaluable opportunities to conserve their social-ecological connectivity. However, these systems are facing mounting threats, including hydropower development, habitat fragmentation, pollution, and unsustainable resource extraction, which jeopardize the intertwined health of ecosystems and human communities. This interdisciplinary symposium brings together researchers and conservation practitioners from across the tropics to discuss strategies for understanding, maintaining, and restoring the connectivity and governance of tropical riverscapes. Presentations will examine diverse river systems to address questions such as: How do rivers shape the temporal and spatial availability of resources for ecosystems and people? How do rivers shape cultural identities and practices? How can conservation efforts balance the ecological needs of free-flowing rivers with the socio-economic demands of human communities? The session will emphasize the importance of integrating ecological research with social sciences and local knowledge to generate holistic conservation strategies. We hope that by focusing on tropical rivers as living systems that connect nature and culture, this symposium will advance both academic understanding and practical approaches to protecting these critical ecosystems and call for concerted efforts to build spaces for continuous exchange of experience across the tropics. This topic is of broad interest to the ATBC community, appealing to those studying biodiversity, sustainable development, and community-based conservation.