The “Biocuenca Alliance” (Alianza Biocuenca), a public-private fund to protect the basins of the Zulia and Pamplonita rivers in Colombia, will complete this April its first 10 months of operation. Some important achievements have strengthened this cooperation platform.

The “Biocuenca Alliance” (Alianza Biocuenca), a public-private fund to protect the basins of the Zulia and Pamplonita rivers in Colombia, will complete this April its first 10 months of operation. Some of the early successes that have strengthened this cooperation platform, for the conservation of water sources in Páramo de Santurban and the two basins are:

1. The Government of the Norte de Santander department publicly pledged to allocate approx. 260,000 USD / year to contribute to the conservation of Páramo de Santurban.

2. The political and economic support of the Mayoralty of the city of Cúcuta (capital of Norte de Santander department) has been approved, which will be equivalent to that of the Norte de Santander department government. Two local laws that will allocate financial resources to the conservation of the two river basins (Zulia and pamplonita) supplying water to the city of Cúcuta.

3. In April 2016 the Water Benefit Certificates project will start in the Páramo de Santurban, which is mainly funded by SDC and aims to create a market strategy instrumented with the certificates, and that is expected to be a source of finance for Alianza BioCuenca in the medium and long term.

4. The strategic action and investment plan of Alianza BioCuenca was presented and approved. It will focus over the next 5 years on the areas of Páramo and High Andean Forest in the Santurbán Paramo region, conserving approximately 16,000 hectares, in order to protect and ensure the production of clean water for approximately 140,000 people.

For more information, contact GSI-LAC: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.