Strengthening institutional and financial mechanisms for EbA in transboundary river basin management: the Mayo-Chinchipe catchment (Ecuador-Peru)

This project aims to improve the socio-ecological resilience of the binational Mayo-Chinchipe basin, a territory shared between Ecuador and Peru that is home to more than 250,000 inhabitants and valuable high Andean and Amazonian ecosystems, by strengthening institutional and financial mechanisms that enable the adoption of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) solutions.

This approach consolidates a model of democratic cross-border governance that guarantees the protection of ecosystems, equitable access to water, and adaptation to climate change in one of the most strategic basins of the Upper Amazon.

To achieve this, the following lines of action are proposed:

• Create and strengthen the Binational Water Schools, which are aimed at coffee farmers and managers of community water systems. This initiative emphasises the active participation of women, as they are the first to be affected by a lack of drinking water; furthermore, their organisational skills have demonstrated their capacity to create effective operational structures. The focus will also include indigenous communities.
• Provide ongoing support to the Coordinating Committee, the Binational Water Assembly, and the Assembly of Women Defenders of the Basin through training, guidance, and dialogue.
• Promote the binational platform of stakeholders for consultation, decision-making, and the development of a Binational Water Fund and local funds associated with this activity.
• Provide technical support to the Binational Commission and promote the integration of EbA into the basin’s Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Plan.

It will be implemented by Join For Water and Protos Andes within the framework of the CUIDAR: Rights, Water and Resilience programme, which has been strengthening the basin’s transboundary democratic governance since 2021 under the “Binational Agreement of the 9 Basins” shared by Ecuador and Peru.

Project Updates

1. Strengthened Stakeholder Engagement:

In close collaboration with IUCN’s BRIDGE program, the basin coordinating committee, and national authorities, the project organized a meeting for the Ecuadorian side of the watershed. The meeting brought together 74 participants, including 31 women, providing an important platform for stakeholder engagement.  

2. Advanced the Institutional Framework for Binational Watershed Management:

The project worked alongside the national government to formally establish the basin’s IWRM committee, as defined the binational agreement.