History

The Resilient Watersheds Strategy began to formally take shape in 2000 when TNC and the Municipal Drinking Water Company of the City of Quito (EPMAPS) joined forces to restore Ecuador’s high Andean grasslands—an area rich in biodiversity that supplies water to Quito’s 2.6 million residents. The subsequently named Fund for the Protection of Water (FONAG) became the first water fund created to provide stakeholders with a mechanism to jointly invest in watershed protection and the socio-economic development of the communities that live there. Since its inception, FONAG has worked to improve the city’s water security by partnering with more than 400 local families to protect and restore nearly 45,000 hectares of paramos and Andean forests.

In the years since, we have established more than 40 watershed investment programs around the world that are improving water security while conserving critical habitat like the chalk streams of Norfolk, United Kingdom, the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River in Minnesota and the ancient fynbos habitat in Cape Town, South Africa.

Build Your Network

Join the global Water Funds Network, a global, multi-disciplinary network of water funds practitioners and other professionals interested in source water protection. Originally founded by The Nature Conservancy, the Water Funds Network (WFN) is now an ever-growing community of experts who work to advance nature-based solutions around the world, and who are interested in exploring the strategy, process, and benefits of protecting and restoring watersheds. 

Join TNC’s regional Water Fund Networks in Africa and Latin America to share and learn with others who are navigating similar challenges. Each regional network has its own program of support and engagement, specific to the needs of their community members. Join the Water Funds for Africa Network here, and the Latin America Water Funds Network here.

Strengthen Your Knowledge.  

Schedule an in-person, virtual and online training for practitioners. Our portfolio spans a diversity of topics ranging from an introduction to water security to in-depth workshops on how to conduct a return-on-investment analysis to determine an optimal investment portfolio. While we have a large collection of foundational, archived online trainings, we also partner with stakeholders to develop customized material that meet their specific needs. We have worked with AB InBev, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, International Water Association, Cranfield University, the French Development Agency, and more. 

Visit the Water Funds Toolbox, which codifies decades of experience in step-by-step guidance to help practitioners navigate the process of developing water funds and other watershed investment programs. Case studies ground the material with real-world examples, while template Terms of Reference and worksheets provide the reader with practical exercises to move their project forward. The Toolbox also delves into subject matter areas like groundwater recharge and soil health to ensure programs are rooted in sound science. Go here to access the Water Funds Field Guide or see a map of current Water Funds around the world.

Apply the CEO Water Mandate NbS Benefit Accounting methodology to account for the stacked water and carbon benefits of NbS, and identify their broader co-benefits. The ongoing initiative has developed a Landscape Assessment, Methodological Guide and user-friendly tool to identify and account for the co-benefits of NbS for water security. 

Build your understanding of NbS and Water Security in this new book which presents an action agenda for how to rapidly mainstream NbS. Chapters explore topics such as standards and principles, technical evaluation and design tools, capacity building, and innovative finance.