Climate change is altering the global water cycle. Extreme floods, droughts and heatwaves continue to increase in their severity and regularity with ongoing climate change. Such climate-driven extremes are already having detrimental effects on river ecosystems and models indicate these will accelerate as the climate continues to warm. Yet, much of river management is founded on the assumption of stationarity — that the conditions observed in the past will continue into the future. Particularly problematic is when unexpected shocks arrive that were foreseeable in hindsight. It is imperative, therefore, that managers and policymakers are provided robust information to act upon. A shift is needed at this critical time, from being reactive to proactive. In this talk, I will discuss research from my lab focusing on modelling approaches to forecast future ecological states in rivers in a nonstationary world. I will highlight work that demonstrates how environmental change is already altering ecological communities in rivers in various ways. I will argue that we need to reconsider river management in a changing world to be more future focused: from restoration thinking to resilience thinking. Finally, I will discuss the need to work in new ways in times of rapid change, including transitioning from working within disciplinary silos to more inter- and transdisciplinary research.