The Alianza BioCuenca is a platform of technical-financial cooperation, created under the Water Funds model that exists in Quito, Lima, Bogotá, and Medellín. Its objective is to compromise, raise, and manage economic resources to finance conservation projects and to restore areas related to hydric security in the basins of the North of Santander.

The Santurbán Páramo is located in northeastern Colombia in the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander covering an area of 150,000 ha. The Santurbán Páramo is considered one of the most emblematic páramos in Colombia and has critical value as a natural reserve for water replenishment, storage, purification, and regulation system. In Norte de Santander, the páramo supplies the headwaters of the two main rivers Zulia and Pamplonita, in Santander, it supplies the rivers Suratá, Tona, and Frío, that together provide water to more than 2.2 million people living in the region’s economic hub of Cúcuta. The Santurbán highlands support the livelihoods of several municipalities through farming, livestock, open cast mining, and electricity production. Within the Santurbán region, 95% of the inhabitants live from traditional forms of agriculture and artisanal mining. The ecological integrity of the Santurbán páramo and the sustenance of its inhabitants is under serious threat from being permanently damaged. In addition, climate change will aggravate current water stress: emission scenarios predict high levels of water stress for the area by 2050. The Alianza BioCuenca is based on the successful water fund model in the region but goes beyond this concept as it is also a platform of cooperation and includes an innovative platform to reach out to the private sector and individuals.

Goals:

• Establish a platform to develop mechanisms to invest in conservation measures, as well as schemes to sustainably use natural resources
• Increase living standards of inhabitants in the highlands, induce their participation in environmental protection activities and transform their activities into a sustainable form
• Develop sustainable practices for the integrated management of the Rio Zulia and Pamplonita watershed to improve the conservation of páramo by incorporating local communities in land planning exercises