Where does the water that supplies us come from?

The water we use when we turn on the tap comes from glaciers and mountains. These places have important water sources, which form rivers and streams that carry water to the cities. Water supports our daily activities. Sanitation service providers collect this water to make it drinkable before it reaches our homes.

Ensuring access, quantity, and quality of water for the population. It also reduces diseases related to inadequate water management and improves the quality of life of the population that consumes it. To guarantee the availability of fresh water, it is necessary to create different conservation mechanisms to preserve this scarce and vulnerable resource. Although our planet is 70% water, only 3% is freshwater. However, only 1% is available on the surface, such as in rivers and lakes, and can be used for human consumption.

In Peru, one way to conserve freshwater ecosystems, forests, and ecosystem services is through the Mechanisms of Remuneration for Ecosystem Services (MERESE). Within this mechanism, there is one that focuses on water regulation and works specifically with Sanitation Service Providers (EPS). “These instruments make it possible to generate, channel and invest funds in actions aimed at the conservation, recovery and sustainable use of ecosystems. The areas where MERESE are implemented are fundamental for the provision of ecosystem services, such as the regulation, provision and quality of water, air purification, conservation of fertile soils and other essential benefits for human well-being,” says Leonardo Olivera, Associate Officer of WWF Peru.

Channeling these funds in favor of ecosystems requires two types of key actors. The contributors: local or indigenous communities. They are willing to carry out conservation and recovery actions. On the other hand, the contributors are people who receive the benefit or private institutions that benefit from the protection of ecosystems. The contributors contribute monetarily to the increase of the fund destined to the ecosystem service conservation. The contributors can carry out the activities to benefit the conservation.

Leonardo emphasizes that water and sanitation utilities are responsible for ensuring that water for human consumption is of sufficient quality and available for cities. They also have the opportunity to become a channel of economic retribution, not necessarily monetary, for the communities that protect water sources.

WWF Peru, since 2023, supports MERESE Water (MERESEH) management through capacity building of people linked to the implementation. At the same time, it has developed technical guidance products to improve the management of MERESEH, such as “Bottlenecks for the implementation of MERESEH in the Sanitation Companies of the Amazon” and “Strategies to address bottlenecks in the implementation of MERESEH in the sanitation companies of the Amazon”.

These inputs contribute to identifying and overcoming the challenges in the MERESEH implementation in the Peruvian Amazon. Its objective is to strengthen the participation of the sanitation sector, promoting actions within its competencies that facilitate a progressive articulation with other actors, allowing a greater impact on the protection of water sources and guaranteeing the sustainability of the sanitation service for the local population.

Additionally, as a pilot plan, the recommendations are being implemented in MERESEH EMAPA San Martin in Tarapoto and MERESEH EMAPAT in the Señor de la Cumbre Local Forest in Madre de Dios. With this work, experiences and lessons learned will be compiled to implement the management model throughout the Amazon.

MERESEH are also mechanisms that can be registered as Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OMEC). This means that they ensure the proper functioning of the water cycle and contribute to Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which seeks to conserve and effectively manage at least 30% of the world's terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine areas.

© Daniel Martínez - WWF Perú