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.
Our research shows that natural infrastructure can provide considerable economic, financial, and risk reduction benefits as part of both project design and basin-level management. However, decision makers need strong analytics to identify, justify, and prioritize sound investments in natural infrastructure. WRI pioneered the Green-Gray Assessment—a framework for applying decision analysis methods to portfolios of natural infrastructure investment opportunities. We offer both rapid and deep-dive assessments tailored to key decision makers and potential investors. We are also invested in building the capacity of key institutions to conduct and interpret their own Green-Gray Assessments.
Our team is currently evaluating the Return on Investment (ROI) of natural infrastructure portfolios in cities across the world, including projects such as
- Forest conservation for drinking water in Portland, Maine
- Forest restoration to reduce sedimentation in Brazil and Colombia
- Conserving and restoring aquifer recharge zones in Mexico,
- Forest restoration for fire risk reduction in Colorado and California.
By better understanding and communicating the financial and social rationale for investing in natural infrastructure, water-dependent companies and cities will be better equipped to incorporate these systems into their water security plans.