Lessons from the Páramos: How Watershed Conservation is Restoring Biodiversity

Sacred “Water Factories”

Unique to Latin America, the páramos are found high in the Andean Mountains of Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.  They are considered one of the world’s most important hotspots for biodiversity, home to 70 mammal species including Andean bears, ocelots and mountain tapirs.

Indigenous communities have long considered the páramos sacred areas for the wide variety of plants used in traditional medicines and ceremonies. And the páramos supply drinking water for tens of millions of people across South America. In Colombia alone, where the páramos cover only 2% of the country’s land area, they supply 70% of the nation’s drinking water.

Often called “water factories”, the páramos ability to store water is linked to the Andean climate and high-altitude plants that have adapted to survive scorching sunlight during the day and freezing temperatures at night. As clouds sweep up the mountainsides and create fog, tall frailejones shrubs, paper trees and other vegetation collect droplets on their leaves and direct the water down their trunks and stems into the spongy páramo soil. The cool mountain temperatures prevent the water from evaporating, allowing it to remain in the soil before filtering into streams and rivers that flow into low-lying areas. Once downstream, the moisture re-evaporates into clouds and the cycle starts over again. 

“[The paper tree] is a sacred plant that we take great care of because they are retainers of water sources,” said Lady Ulcuango, a local community member who works as a ranger with FONAG, monitoring conservation activities and outcomes.

The páramos are also vital to combatting climate change, storing six times more carbon per area than tropical forests.

But unsustainable ranching and agriculture practices erode and compact the soil, destroying its ability to store and supply water. Urbanization and the threat of fire from escaped trash or agriculture burning also threaten the páramos as Quito’s growing population expands higher into the mountains. And rising temperatures, droughts and other impacts of climate change put the páramos at even greater risk. Scientists warn that half of the world’s páramos could disappear by 2050 and between 10% and 47% of the unique species that live there could go extinct by the end of the century.

An Ongoing Stream of Conservation Funding

FONAG launched in 2000 after The Nature Conservancy and the government of Quito spent years working to create a long-term protection strategy for a stretch of páramos that served as a wildlife corridor connecting several national parks. While the municipal government recognized the land as essential habitat for condors and other biodiversity, it did not have the resources needed to effectively prevent encroaching development and destructive agriculture practices.

The Nature Conservancy and EPMAPS contributed $21,000 in seed money to kick-start a trust fund that would generate ongoing income for conservation actions that improve both Quito’s water security and surrounding wildlife habitat. Other Quito businesses that relied on abundant water supplies—including the local electric utility and beverage companies—quickly followed suit. Today, monthly contributions from Quito water users have grown into a $2 million fund that generates $2.5 million each year. 

FONAG has so far protected and conserved 55,000 hectares of páramos. But that is just the beginning. In the coming decades FONAG plans to protect a total of 150,000 hectares of páramos that support both local communities and biodiversity.

“Since FONAG’s beginning, its priority has always been the protection of the water sources. But when you conserve water sources, it’s almost automatic that you have other co-benefits—biodiversity, carbon sequestration and social benefits,” said Bert de Bievre, Technical Secretary of FONAG. 

FONAG and The Nature Conservancy are funding locally-run nurseries that grow tens of thousands of native trees and shrubs that are then planted on former ranchlands. 

Páramo communities are also collaborating with FONAG to implement low-impact agriculture practices that support sustainable livelihoods while keeping soils healthy. Ranchers, for example, have moved livestock lower down mountainsides away from water sources and farmers are growing crops with fewer chemicals and fertilizers.

More than two dozen men and women from local communities work with FONAG as “guardapáramos”—park rangers—who monitor conservation areas, identify potential threats, fight fires and gather scientific data on the region’s biodiversity.

And FONAG is helping future generations understand the importance of conserving the páramos and its water sources. Through educational programs, teacher trainings, field trips and the creation of an environmental interpretation center, FONAG has reached more than 3,000 students in 17 schools.

Along with supporting sustainable jobs and income, FONAG has installed sewage and water pipes in the communities living high in the mountains to ensure they are receiving the same water security as downstream users.

“If we have the commitment of the community to conserve the water sources, we can’t just increase access to water for the people in Quito,” de Bievre said. “We need to bring benefits to the areas where there are the sources of water."

Quito As a Global Model

Since the launch of FONAG 25 years ago, numerous communities across Ecuador, Peru and Colombia have created their own watershed investment programs to protect the páramos.

“We are naturally regenerating spaces previously dedicated to cattle ranching,” said José Fernando, a third-generation rancher who now collaborates with the Vivo Cuenca Water Fund located about 300 km west of Bogota, Colombia. “My commitment is that, as long as I am alive, nothing will be done here against the correct environmental development that we should have... I know that my children will carry this legacy for a long time. I go to bed with peace of mind.”

Globally, The Nature Conservancy and its partners have used Quito as a model to develop nearly 50 watershed investment programs that are protecting a range of freshwater systems across 25 countries.

And as water managers around the world look to FONAG for valuable lessons, FONAG is learning from some of the very projects it has inspired over the years. After The Nature Conservancy hosted a learning exchange between FONAG and South Africa’s Greater Cape Town Water Fund in 2024, FONAG began implementing strategies pioneered in Cape Town to combat harmful invasive species around Quito.

“The learning has gone full circle,” said TNC's Atwell. “We brought the Quito water fund to the world. Now we’re bringing the world back to Quito.”

Along with sponsoring learning exchanges, The Nature Conservancy has developed a variety of tools that can help communities, governments and water managers launch their own watershed investment programs.

The Resilient Watersheds Toolbox includes case studies, online trainings, templates, a library of resources and step-by-step guidance on how to design, launch and monitor watershed investment programs using nature-based solutions.

The Resilient Watersheds Network is a global, multi-disciplinary community of practitioners and others who are working to advance nature-based solutions around the world and are interested in learning more about the strategy, process and benefits of protecting and restoring watersheds. Regional networks have been created around the world, each with its own program of support and engagement specific to the needs of their community members.

Nature for Water, a partnership managed by The Nature Conservancy and Pegasys, is working to scale watershed investment programs globally by providing hands-on technical support including expertise in hydrology, GIS, ecology, governance, finance and project management.

“We’ve seen nature come back.”

FONAG’s work is not only bringing the páramos back to health, but it is proving that nature itself is a powerful conservation tool.

Ten years ago, after FONAG worked with local landowners to remove livestock from the southern Antisana region of the water fund, they noticed that native plant species quickly returned.

“When we eliminated the cattle and sheep, the natural regeneration was very good and we didn’t really need to do a lot of active restoration,” said de Bievre. “The vegetation came back.”

And with the vegetation came native white-tailed deer, followed by condors.

“Some people criticized us for taking away the cattle because for years the condor had never been observed eating anything but dead cattle,” de Bievre said. “But the deer replaced the cattle in the ecosystem and the condor began eating the deer. That’s the lesson. With a bit of patience, natural equilibriums are re-established without doing too much but effectively controlling the pressures and threats on the ecosystem.”

Condors aren’t the only ones that enjoy deer meat. A puma was recently spotted in the Antisana, the first such sighting since FONAG began working in the region ten years ago.

“It’s an optimistic message,” de Bievre said. “We always say the páramos are so fragile and may be impossible to recover. But in one short decade, we’ve seen nature come back.”