FONAPA water fund works to conserve Paute watershed in southern Ecuador. Created in October 2008, the fund finances conservation of the Paute watershed, which supplies water to more than 500,000 Cuenca residents and 300,000 Azogues residents with drinking water and half the country with electricity through the local hydroelectric dam. Projected to raise $5 million over five years, the fund will also pay for the protection and restoration of habitats critical to the survival of key biodiversity as the Andean Bear.

The Conservancy worked with local partners and government to launch a water fund in Cuenca, Ecuador’s third-largest city, in October 2008. The fund will finance conservation of the Paute watershed, which supplies more than 500,000 Cuenca residents and 300,000 Azogues residents with drinking water and half the country with electricity through the local hydroelectric dam. Projected to raise $5 million over five years, the fund will also pay for the protection and restoration of habitats critical to the survival of Andean tapirs.

This fund serves more than 500,000 Cuenca residents and 300,000 Azogues residents with drinking water and half the country with electricity through the local hydroelectric dam.