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Improving Water Supplies, Saving Forests: The Example of Southern Ecuador´s Regional Water Fund Matt Clark Nature and Culture International
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Transcript of FORAGUA LinkedIn
Improving Water Supplies, Saving Forests:The Example of Southern Ecuador´s
Regional Water Fund
Matt ClarkNature and Culture International
Presentation Overview
• Background – Forest ecosystem services
• Problems -- Deforestation & poor watershed mngt.
• A Solution --- FORAGUA Regional Water Fund
• Initial results – Improved water & conserved forests
• Next steps
Ecuador on the map
Roughly the size of Colorado or the UK
Ecosystem Services
– Retain and filter water
– Incredible biodiversity
Horizontal precipitation (clouds and mist)
Water retention – 21,000 gal. per acre
High Andean Páramo
Tropical Andes - Biodiversity HotspotOne-sixth of the world´s vascular plant species in 1% of the world´s land area
1515 bird species in Ecuador
The Challenges
Deforestation: 1.4% a year
Silica mining in Nangaritza Valley
Cattle in Loja´s potable water source
Deforestation & Poor Watershed Management
↓ Water Quality ↑ Water-borne diseases
↓ Available Water Supply
↓ Biodiversity
Annual cases of water-borne disease300% to 400% increase over 20 years
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ZAMORA LOJA EL ORO
Water shortages
Western Andean Slope - Dry forest
Two to four hours of water a day
A Solution
A funding mechanism and a legal & managementframework for watershed conservation & restoration
FORAGUA Service Area:Three Southern Provinces
FORAGUA = Public Trust Fund
Five founding municipalities and Natureand Culture International
– National Finance Corporation as fiduciary
Participating municipalities levy a fee onwater users
90% funds → Municipalities´own watersheds
10% funds → Technical Secretariat
15 municipalities enrolled(39 eligible)
How to join FORAGUA?
• Voluntary
• Municipalities must adoptan ordinance:– Declare municipal
watershed reserves
– Charge water users a fee• Only for watershed
management
– Authorize enrollment in FORAGUA
Fee structure
• 4 to 15 cents per m3 of water
• $521K = Total collected in 2014
Loja - $459K
Centinela del Cóndor - $2K
What makes FORAGUA innovative?
• Integrates multiple municipalities into a single fund
• Pooled resources enables small municipalities toparticipate
– Access to Technical Secretariat (admin. & tech. support)
– Access to external funds → $2.1M raised to date (supplementing water use fees)
FORAGUA Accomplishments to date
• 174,028 acres protected– Plus 37,681 acres purchased
• $388,651 average annual revenue
• 432,000 people served
With FORAGUA funds, City of Loja bought 90% of watershed(2050 acres)
Removed 200 cows
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Fecal coliforms El Carmen MPN per 100ml
$187,013
$130,289
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EXPENDITURE FOR CHEMICAL INPUTS FOR WATER TREATMENT
IN LOJA MUNICIPALITY
Pisaca Municipal Reserve
Water catchment for Catacocha
Protects 1000 acres of Tumbesian Dry Forest (only 5%
remaining)
Loja´s Municipal Reserves: Buffer zone for Podocarpus Natl. Park
Next steps for FORAGUA Scale up. Deliver impact.
• Enroll 24 remaining municipalities– 278,000 more acres protected
– 850,000 more people served
– $700K per year more for watersheds
• Support municipalities in implementing projects
• Monitor results → Demonstrate impact
Challenge to achieving scaleEnrollment bottleneck
• Time and labor intensive
• Lack of capacity (and stable work force) at municipal level
• Opportunity costs for Technical Secretariat
A Water School as a solution
• Phased training → Guide a cohort of municipal technicians through enrollment process
• Operational efficiencies
• Builds capacity at municipal level, reduces reliance on outside experts
Need for diversified revenue
• Tech. Secy´s Annual Budget– 50% Loja´s contribution
– 30% from external grantoverhead
• Enrolling new municipalities– Decrease reliance on Loja
– Unfunded work
• Addl. recurring revenue?– Fee for service?
– Endowment?
Opportunity toleverage partnerships
• Technical Working Group recently formed
– Focus effective water management in s. Ecuador
• Revenue opportunities, operational efficiencies within this network?
Recap
• FORAGUA – Funding mechanism and
management framework
• Water quality (primary driver)
• Biodiversity / ecosystem conservation
