Reblogged from PolicySupport Blog
Water funds have become an established mechanisms to better share the costs and benefits of water and hydropower provision between downstream water users who invest in the fund and upstream land managers who can receive investment for improved land management with benefits for downstream water quantity and quality. Developing the business case for water fund investments involves understanding which interventions to develop where in the catchment in order to improve water quantity and quality at the critical areas downstream at which hydrological ecosystem services are realised.
Today in Loja, Ecuador, TNC and King’s College London are working together to deliver a training course “Financial mechanisms for the conservation of sources of water” in how to use the RIOS and WaterWorld tools together to better advise on afforestation and forest protection strategies in catchment like the Paute in Ecuador where such investments could achieve multiple objectives in the conservation of nature, improvement of hydrological ecosystem services and hydropower production at the Paute dam. The analysis carried out is described here.
The course involved 23 people from water companies, NGOs, universities, water authorities and local governments: mostly technical staff working on water management, as part of the Foragua water fund. This water fund has been operational since 2009 and currently includes about 20 of the 30 municipalities draining into the Paute, and charges a fee to all users which is directed to the conservation of the upper basins and water intakes.
