The initiatives comprising Watersheds and Cities have affected around 3.8 million hectares, where people and partner organizations have carried out diagnoses, designed action plans for integrated watershed management, and deployed communication and awareness campaigns to achieve active participation of different sectors and actors. Conservation, restoration, and productive reconversion have been established in more than 141,500 hectares. Compensation schemes have been established to provide hydrological and environmental services on more than 35,000 hectares of this surface.
The field deployment of the projects has opened favorable spaces for the direct participation of communities in the definition of objectives, the development of activities, and other participatory processes of natural resource management. Local initiatives have directly benefited more than 16,000 families from 192 communities through their incorporation into sustainable, productive projects, the installation of various eco-techniques, such as biodigesters, water-saving toilets, and wood-saving stoves, as well as 620 rain collection systems in areas of water scarcity or with wells contaminated by heavy metals.
Watersheds and Cities V, the new stage of the project, seeks to maintain the environmental services of watersheds and improve water resilience in cities, incorporating ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) and NbS approaches.
In 2023, the new knowledge management strategy was consolidated, which will be the basis for improving the systematization of good practices promoted by project partners. In addition, Watersheds and Cities expanded the conservation and restoration areas by an additional 6,500 hectares. In preparation for an extension, local partners participated in preliminary water vulnerability assessments in the cities included in the project.