Northern Andes

Adaptation to protect water and its vital services

Where clean water in Colombia's East Cauca Valley flows, money follows. Some of Colombia's largest and most fertile sugar plantations carpet the Cauca Valley floor, while many of the rural poor live on the steeper slopes, carving out a living from the rugged land. Clean water grows sugar, fills the cooking pots of families and grows vegetation that holds the soil onto the hillsides.

The East Cauca Valley water fund works like this: the 900,000 people who rely on clean, fresh water pay into a common fund. The interest from that fund is then used to support the restoration and preservation of 600 square miles of moist tropical forests and montane grasslands surrounding key streambeds and reservoirs. The conservation of nearby vegetation directly impacts sedimentation and filtration levels of the rainfall that flows into the rivers, making it a major ecosystem-based solution for the improvement of water quality. 

The Nature Conservancy works alongside ASOCAÑA (Colombia's sugarcane association), CVC (a local government authority, Corporación Autónoma Regional del Valle del Cauca) and nine grassroots municipalities for each watershed in the East Cauca Valley.  Each of these stakeholders has historical investment in the valley.  The grassroots organizations, for example, have for many years represented the voices of local communities in the implementation of any conservation plans.

Climate change will alter the patterns of rainfall and the growth of vegetation. A partnership involving The Nature Conservancy, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the Natural Capital Project will generate 18 different climate models to predict the extent of those alterations over the next century.  Scientists will then use the rainfall and temperature predictions to implement conservation plans - these plans will slow erosion, offset the effects of irregular water flow and reduce sediments in the streams.   

Ecosystem-based adaptation strategies, such as restoring forested areas to assure water flows, will shield people and key resources from the most damaging effects of climate change.

East Cauca Valley strategies include activities such as protecting boundaries between farms and conservation lands to prevent cattle from grazing near vulnerable riverbanks. The water fund also actively implements alternate income source programs to supplant farming on high-value ecosystem lands.   Farmers are encouraged, for example, to instead plant organic vegetable gardens or farm guinea pigs. The Nature Conservancy also invests heavily in ensuring that residents affected by the designation of protected lands are correctly compensated for any loss in economic livelihood.

The partnerships formed by The Nature Conservancy in the East Cauca Valley will make it possible for  local industry, agricultural interests, village farmers and municipalities to plan for climate change alongside hydrologists, climate scientists and community organizers.

Water funds are in various stages of development not just in the East Cauca Valley but all over the Northern Andes and other areas in Latin America, ensuring the resilience and longevity of regional water supplies and the livelihoods they protect.