Repairing water ecosystems
Improving water security and increasing resilience to climate change impacts in South America
How we’re improving water security in South America
In Peru and Colombia, rising temperatures and extreme hydrologic events like prolonged drought and flooding have negatively impacted water resources and ecosystems, raising the risk of food scarcity and reduced access to safe drinking water. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) designed the Partnering for Adaptation and Resilience-Agua (PARA-Agua) project to respond to these challenges.
Sharing insights to support water security
This four-year project (2013-2017) supported scientists, decision-makers, and communities to work in five targeted watersheds in Peru and Colombia to strengthen watershed management and planning capabilities, improve water security, and increase resilience to climate change impacts.
AECOM served as the implementation partner for this project and worked closely with USAID and stakeholders, to create platforms for sustained dialogue and information sharing between the research community, policy makers, watershed stakeholders, and the private sector.
Better decisions, quicker actions, positive outcomes
The objective was to ‘mainstream’ the use of relevant scientific data, identify structural and non-structural adaptation options, facilitate access to financing mechanisms, and replicate best practices and built capacity across the region, through improved data sharing tools and partnerships.
The project strengthened the capacity of decision makers to make robust decisions that increase these nations’ resilience to the effects of climate change, and improve the lives of millions of people who live within the watersheds.