London, 8th October 2024
Over the past year, we have partnered with the Bogotá Water Fund (Fondo de Agua de Bogotá Región, Corporación Agua Somos) to turn our research on cloud forest assets into action, identifying and mobilising investment opportunities to support high-Andean páramos as vital water infrastructure. In the run up to the COP16 Biodiversity Summit in Colombia, we are introducing a new investment theme aimed at creating impactful opportunities for private investors.
The upcoming UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Colombia will focus on financing nature, with a key challenge being the role of the private sector and its willingness to help drive economically viable investment opportunities.
Earth Security has been working with partners in Colombia to provide a practical answer to these questions. We have focused on translating the critical ecosystem services that high-Andean wetland ecosystems (páramos) provide into a series of investable propositions.
Two years ago, Earth Security’s research showed how cloud-affected forests are acting as a form of water infrastructure , delivering up to 60% more water downstream (on top of that provided by rain) in tropical forest areas. These highly threatened ecosystems maintain the resilience of water supplies to cities, infrastructure and agriculture.
Since then, we've been actively working in Colombia, one of the top 5 countries with highest dependence on these cloud-affected forests, to develop commercial investment solutions to safeguard them and the water services they provide. We focused on Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, where the total of the city’s and region's water originates from the high-Andean páramos – endangered as a result of cattle grazing, coffee cultivation, and agriculture. The 2024 droughts that led to national water rationing demonstrated the urgency of securing these ecosystems to ensure long-term water security.
Piloting an investment pipeline and basin-wide investment fund in Colombia
In collaboration with the Bogotá Water Fund (Fondo de Agua de Bogotá Región, Corporación Agua Somos) – a multi-stakeholder water fund in Bogotá at the forefront of Colombia’s watershed governance and science-based conservation programmes – we are developing a pipeline of investment opportunities for private capital to invest in regenerative businesses that are restoring and regenerating the Bogotá River basin. Projects include biodiversity and carbon credit schemes, as well as initiatives to support tourism operators in driving strategic ecosystem restoration.
Our goal is to establish a basin-level trust fund, managed by Agua Somos, that attracts private investment for these high-priority restoration projects. Agua Somos will monitor and report on the impact of these efforts across water, carbon, biodiversity, and social indicators, and by doing so, it will be possible to map how financial capital is delivering benefits and strengthening relationships at the landscape-level between investors, communities and the environment.
This model could be highly replicable in over 40 water basins worldwide, where local water funds can act as conduits to channel private sector investment into regenerative businesses that deliver impact at a basin-level scale.
“Through this innovative model we are expanding Earth Security’s playbook of investments into ‘natural infrastructure’ as a new asset class, providing investors with return-driven projects that restore the critical link between forests and water security amid rising water risks. The pilots being developed with Agua Somos and Colombian partners will provide the COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali with new blueprints to invest in natural capital.”
– Alejandro Litovsky, Founder and CEO of Earth Security
“Collaborating with Earth Security has been a transformative experience for us. Together, we are creating a powerful model that not only prioritises the restoration and regeneration around the Bogota River Basin but also opens new pathways for private investment to play a central role in preserving Colombia's natural infrastructure. As we prepare for COP16, the work we’ve accomplished offers an inspiring blueprint for how public and private sectors can unite to secure the future of our ecosystems and the essential services they provide, like water security for Bogotá Region.”
– Andrea Yáñez Ariza, Manager of the Fondo de Agua de Bogotá Región, Corporación Agua Somos
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