Executive Directors of Water Funds that are members of the Latin American Water Funds Alliance agreed on the importance of strengthening the exchange of experiences to advance strategic water management, during their participation in the International Roundtable “Water: A Guarantee for Economic Growth,” held in Lima, alongside stakeholders from the business, academic, and technical sectors.
The meeting, organized by Aquafondo, the Water Fund for Lima and Callao (Peru), in collaboration with Cerro Verde, KPMG, and the Universidad Científica del Sur (UCSUR), brought together representatives from Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, and Peru, who shared lessons learned from their territories on water security.
Among the Water Funds represented were:
- María Claudia De La Ossa – Fondo de Agua Cuenca Verde (Colombia)
- Oscar Leal – Fondo de Agua Cauce Bajío (México)
- Andrea Yáñez – Fondo de Agua Bogotá Región – Agua Somos (Colombia)
- Bert de Biévre – Fondo para la Protección del Agua – FONAG (Ecuador)
- Mariella Sánchez Guerra, Directora ejecutiva del Fondo de Agua para Lima y Callao – Aquafondo (Perú)
From different territorial realities, participants in the roundtable shared experiences on how Water Funds are implementing solutions that combine conservation, investment, and multi-stakeholder coordination to improve water security.
Experiences that connect territories, businesses, and decision-making
One of the main contributions of the meeting was demonstrating that water challenges across the region are shared, but so are the solutions already underway.
In this process, the need was highlighted to overcome administrative, operational, and institutional barriers; strengthen coordination among stakeholders at the local, national, and international levels; build trust with communities and territorial actors; and share and generate knowledge across the public sector, private sector, academia, and civil society.
Likewise, the participation of the business sector—with representatives from PepsiCo and Cerro Verde (Peru), together with the strategic perspective of KPMG and the academic contribution of the Universidad Científica del Sur—helped connect water management with business decision-making.
Water Funds: platforms for scaling solutions and mobilizing investment
The Water Funds demonstrated their role as coordination platforms capable of translating knowledge into action.
Among the lessons shared, it was highlighted that:
- Nature-Based Solutions are essential to ensuring long-term water availability.
- Investment in upper watershed areas represents a shared-value model between businesses and territories.
- The goal is not to implement isolated projects, but to transform the water system through source conservation.
It was also emphasized that the involvement of the business sector, together with strategic partners such as Cerro Verde, KPMG, and academia, is key to accelerating the implementation of solutions and expanding their impact.
The Water Funds reaffirmed their commitment to continue promoting regional collaboration spaces that bring together more stakeholders, strengthen trust, and enable the scaling of effective solutions.
The time to act is now
As a conclusion of the International Roundtable organized by Aquafondo, a shared conviction was reaffirmed: solutions exist, the stakeholders are in place, and the challenge lies in aligning efforts, making decisions, and scaling impact.
Today, more than ever, advancing toward water security requires moving from knowledge to action, integrating water as a strategic axis for sustainable development across the region.
