Champion
A well-connected local individual with significant understanding of water management and is motivated to advocate for the Watershed Investment Program (WIP) and its cause. They are a driving force, cheerleader and spokesperson for the WIP; moreover, they typically possess political and institutional gravitas enabling them to be an effective advocate.
Deep Dive
The Deep Dives are resources which provide in-depth guidance on key technical processes and considerations and can be used in conjunction with this guide as additional resources to assist in the development of your WIP.
Design Phase
The Design Phase of the WIP development lifecycle follows the Feasibility Phase and establishes the WIP’s financial, operational and governance profile with the aim of executing against its SMART Objectives.
Execution Phase
The Execution Phase is the final phase of WIP development and culminates in WIP operationalization and implementation.
Grey Infrastructure
rey infrastructure incorporates built structures and mechanical equipment, such as reservoirs, embankments, pipes, pumps, water treatment plants and canals. These engineered solutions are embedded within watersheds or coastal ecosystems whose hydrological and environmental attributes profoundly affect the performance of the grey infrastructure (Browder et al. 2019).
Feasibility Phase
The Feasibility Phase is the second phase of the WIP development process. This phase builds upon, tests, and validates the indicative Theory of Change proposed at the conclusion of Pre-Feasibility. Specifically, Feasibility aims to test whether a specific viable NBS portfolio exists that can achieve impact and attract resource commitments from your stakeholder group.
Nature-Based Solutions (NbS)
Actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems, which address societal challenges (e.g., climate change, food and water security or natural disasters) effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits (Cohen-Shacham et al. 2016).
NbS Investment Portfolio
A defined implementation scenario that details a total level of effort (e.g., # of hectares wetlands restored) delivered in a defined service area across one or more types of NbS. The NbS investment Portfolio is evaluated during Feasibility Phase to estimate the potential water security benefits and full-lifecycle costs associated with the scenario, as well as usually an estimated Return on Investment to target program beneficiaries.
Nature-Based Solutions for Water Security (NbS-WS)
Actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address water security challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.
Pre-Feasibility Phase
The Pre-Feasibility Phase is the first phase of the WIP development process which requires negotiating a set of key questions aimed at addressing the high-level potential for NbS to contribute to water security outcomes. Pre-Feasibility culminates with a go / no-go decision to move to Feasibility Phase per the guidance and support of your stakeholder group.
Sponsor
A sponsor is the institution (and the associated individuals within that institution) that kicks off the WIP development process and is the principal leading force for organizing resources and stakeholder engagement through the end of Design Phase. The sponsor is often an existing local counterparty with significant watershed influence, such as a local water utility or basin authority. This party may or may not continue to lead the WIP during the Execution Phase.
Water Fund
Water Funds are organizations that design and enhance financial and governance mechanisms which unite public, private and civil society stakeholders around a common goal to contribute to water security through nature-based solutions and sustainable watershed management. They may be especially relevant and useful when no other legally predefined watershed management arrangement exists.
Watershed Investment Programs (WIPs)
An initiative designed to deliver ecosystem services (e.g., filtration, flood control, etc.) by investing in the protection or restoration of nature. WIPs aim to deliver water security and associated co-benefit outcomes via a defined portfolio of NbS interventions within a specified service area (the “NbS Investment Portfolio”).
Water Resilience
Resilience is the ability of a water system, by its design and operation, to maintain its function and service provision under stresses and shocks (persistence), to adjust its configuration or operation to sustain its function under change (adaptability), or to establish a new function or “new normal” when the prior function cannot be maintained (transformability). (CEO Water Mandate Resilience Assessment Framework)
Water Security
Availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments and economies (Grey and Sadoff 2007).
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