Natural Infrastructure for Water
We empower governments, businesses, utilities, and communities to enhance water security by investing in “natural infrastructure,” like forests and wetlands, as part of a portfolio of smart solutions to growing water challenges.
Water is critical for economic development around the world—from the parched farmlands of eastern Africa, to growing cities across India and Brazil that rely on hydropower for reliable electricity, to communities in the western United States that continue to grapple with water scarcity and catastrophic wildfires. Intensifying water stress demands a new paradigm for water resources management that prioritizes holistic and integrated solutions. At the center of such an approach is natural infrastructure.
Natural infrastructure uses landscape management strategies like restoration, conservation and sustainable management to provide essential services like clean and abundant water supply, aquifer recharge and flood control. WRI is dedicated to scaling up these smart and cost-effective strategies, which support rural communities while also enabling sustainable development in an increasingly urbanizing world. We leverage WRI’s geospatial mapping (e.g., Aqueduct and Global Forest Watch) and economic expertise to track water risks; unveil natural infrastructure opportunities; and inform, finance, and scale smart strategies to secure water resources.
Through our projects spanning across North and South America, Africa, and Asia, we convene and empower champions at all levels of decision-making. We provide the cutting-edge data and best practice guidance to put natural infrastructure into action. We steward collective learning through extensive networks of water utility managers, conservationists, businesses, financial institutions and governments united behind a common goal: to enhance water security and bolster economic development through landscape restoration and conservation.
Please contact Todd Gartner, Senior Associate and Manager, with any project inquiries.
Water is critical for life, livelihoods, and economic growth— yet many decision makers do not understand the role that the natural environment plays in filtering and securing water resources. WRI is raising awareness of natural infrastructure as part of a 21st century paradigm for water resources management. Through direct engagement with key institutions, we are bringing this solution to decision-makers—whether it means advising the National Water Authority in Peru as it advances payments for ecosystem services; showing the State Forestry Administration of the People’s Republic of China how to improve forest management for water quality in Beijing; working with Credit Suisse to engage private capital for natural infrastructure; enabling the Inter-American Development Bank to address drought risks in Brazil; or partnering with the American Water Works Association (AWWA) to bring guidance and tools to its 50,000 water industry professionals across the United States.