Frequently asked questions

Watersheds are degrading around the world, with serious impacts on water security. Nature-based solutions (NBS) can preserve or restore degraded watersheds, thus addressing critical water security issues; however, nowadays there is a lack of sufficient attracting and investment. This is due in part to the complexity and time required to demonstrate the positive return on investment (ROI) of a NbS portfolio for water security outcomes, an important first step needed to unlock large-scale funding commitments by part of the water actors from the public and private sectors.

WaterProof is a web application that provides a quick and indicative SbN investment portfolio and associated ROI. The tool is intended to engage stakeholders in exploring green infrastructure solutions to local water challenges and prioritizing locations for potential NBS water security programs (such as Water Funds). Virtualizes a number of Natural Capital ecosystem service models (InVEST and RIOS) and pre-formats relevant global data sets to radically reduce the time, cost and resources required for ROI assessment of SbB portfolios, reducing by the process the implementation effort of several months to less than five minutes.

Although the tool is publicly available to all users, it is originally designed with a few key user groups in mind. These primary users include individuals concerned with watershed management and water treatment costs in public utilities, leaders in water management in private sector companies that are large users of water, and conservation professionals or managers. that focus on water security and watershed health. Secondary users include social impact investors, government water or environmental agencies, watershed groups or those new to the concept of water-related nature-based solutions who want to use the tool for hands-on learning.