Throughout South America, millions of people depend on water from high-elevation paramo grasslands and Andean and Atlantic forests, water sources under increasing pressure from land-use and climate change. To protect and enhance these water resources, watershed management programs that promote land management like reforestation, conservation, and lower-intensity grazing to enhance clean and ample water supplies downstream are becoming increasingly common. ClimateWIse is a partnership among research institutions in the US, Brazil, and Germany working in close collaboration with projects throughout South America investing in watershed management. By working with partner projects in the Latin American Water Funds Partnership and the Brazilian Water Producer Program, we have generated insight about tropical montane hydrology and about how the science of hydrology and climate can be co-developed with practitioners such that the information is useful and used. In addition, we have evaluated aspects of ecosystem services based watershed management projects that allow them to thrive. Perhaps most importantly, we have communicated our findings back to our partners, helping them improve their watershed management.

Our Brazilian research partners collected substantial field data at one partner site outside of Sao Paulo, providing new insights about the extent to which restoration can impact spring flow and interception of fog water. We collated data collected by watershed investment partners at this and two other Brazilian sites and improved data cleaning methods for our partners. Using these data, we have produced improved rainfall erosivity metrics for use in regional watershed models. In addition, we have set up and run user-friendly regional-scale models of water yield and sediment at Andean sites in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, making the model set-up and data freely available to our partners. The Brazilian team has downscaled climate data for Brazil and assessed biases in these projections for the first time for Southeast Brazil.

To support design, implementation, and evaluation efforts, watershed investment projects often rely on hydrologic modeling and monitoring conducted by technical partners. However, recent research highlights the gap between theory and practice of watershed management programs, with program design and implementation often driven by practical and financial factors, rather than hydrologic information, and it remains unclear how and why hydrologic information is actually used in practice. We evaluated the performance of several hydrologic models against measured benchmarks and through feedback from program managers. In general, we found that model complexity and data availability improved the precision of hydrologic model outputs but did not impact the design of the watershed management program. Instead, modeling outputs contributed to scaling and broad-scale support of programs by increasing scientific credibility. Based on interviews from three sites in Brazil, we developed a rubric of hydrologic modeling needs for different actors and stages in the development of watershed investment projects. In general, understanding and trust in the approaches modelers employ was the most important factor in information uptake. Providing trustworthy and decision-relevant information required substantial upfront engagement with users. We found that the most useful modeling studies were co-developed with local stakeholders and incorporated socio-economic and political realities into the modeling framework. Our findings demonstrate the necessity of careful identification of modeling goals and impacts through interdisciplinary approaches to understand the value and appropriate level of investment in hydrologic and monitoring efforts.

Using semi-structured interviews and long periods of interaction, we gained additional insight on the evolution and lessons learned from several watershed investment programs. While there has been success in getting these types of programs started, there has been little analysis of the organizations and how the oldest of these institutions have learned and adapted through time. Our work emphasizes the centrality of relationships in creating and maintaining successful programs. It also highlights the robust yet flexible institutional structures characteristic of long-time programs. Watershed conservation entails dealing with a wide range of political and economic forces as well as natural resource management decisions.

Investments in Watershed Services programs provide an unparalleled opportunity to assess the impacts of land-use and climate change on water resources throughout this sensitive region. By working closely with these programs, ClimateWIse has been able to help them enhance sustainable water management as well as increase the biophysical and social science foundations for ecosystem services-based management.

Last Modified: 05/18/2020
Modified by: Kate A Brauman