In 2016, the City of Cape Town, South Africa invited TNC to explore establishing a Water Fund to help address long-term water security concerns while tackling near-term social and ecological priorities.

Potential benefits include:

Ecological: Water supply and recharge areas targeted for conservation include some of the rarest and most threatened plant communities on Earth as well as high priority climate adaptation corridors.

Social: Conservation investments will protect water supplies to economically disadvantaged communities and could generate direct and indirect employment opportunities in ecological infrastructure projects and tourism operations.

Economic: Savings on future water treatment costs alone could offset much or all of the costs of watershed conservation in Cape Town's supply and recharge areas, providing a dramatic return on investment.

With your help, by 2020: The business case showing the Water Fund's potential to deliver desired benefits will be produced The Greater Cape Town Water Fund will launch with a body of public and private stakeholders providing governance and financial support Natural infrastructure investments will begin reducing threats to the City's water sources Long-term financial mechanism will be established for future water security Furthermore, lessons from Cape Town will help advance replication of the Water Fund model across Sub-Saharan Africa via outreach and a practical toolkit designed to aid municipalities in launching their own Water Funds. Launched in November 2018, the Greater Cape Town Water Fund is Africa's second water fund. Investment is needed now to expand TNC- South Africa's staff capacity to facilitate outreach, training, and start-up of additional water funds to meet the growing demand and keep pace with mounting threats to water security in South Africa.