Funding and financing to scale nature-based solutions for water security

Latin America has been a pioneer and innovator in developing nature-based solutions (NBS) programs for source water protection, creating enabling policies, institutions, and implementation approaches. We present an overview of the major initiatives on source water protection that prioritize NBS and describe the evolution of projects and programs that followed from early voluntary projects based on “classic” payments for ecosystem services (PES) models to a diversity of PES-type programs, national to local initiatives, and emerging multisector, collective action efforts (e.g., national government sanctioned programs, water funds). The diversity of partnerships, funding sources, and financing mechanisms are highlighted. Brief case studies provide specific examples of how governments have approached NBS for source water protection in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil, from an early focus on the environmental conservation to an emphasis on drinking water to broader conceptions of water security.