Ponds are globally abundant and critically important habitats for freshwater species and provide multiple ecosystem services and Nature’s Contributions to People. Benefitting from ponds, and the ecosystem services they provide, requires legislative, policy and practical frameworks to be in place. In this guide, created by the EU Horizon 2020 funded PONDERFUL project, which ran from December 2020 to 2024, we provide policy makers with the tools to design effective plans for ponds and pondscapes. The guide should be read in conjunction with the PONDERFUL technical handbook1 (‘Ponds and Pondscapes: A technical guide to the use of ponds and pondscapes as nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation’). To protect and manage ponds effectively as nature-based solutions policy makers should create national and regional plans for ponds which: • Understand the resource by making national pond inventories, mapping ponds and assessing their importance for biodiversity and the Nature’s Contributions to People and other ecosystem services they provide. • Establish monitoring programmes on five or 10 year cycles to assess pond condition and delivery of key Nature’s Contribution to People. • Set targets for pond and pondscape improvements and delivery of goals to meet policy aims (e.g. of the EU Nature Restoration Law). • Introduce practical programmes, with numerical targets, for protecting, managing, restoring and creating ponds and pondscapes. • Identify or devise funding programmes for ponds and pondscapes. We provide a specimen format for a national plan for ponds and pondscapes. Recognising the under-protection of ponds we also highlight recent proposals for a global convention on ponds. The value and importance of ponds is briefly summarised, along with approaches to their practical management, monitoring and financing. Throughout the document we signpost the more detailed guidance provided in the PONDERFUL technical handbook.