The story has been updated with further details from Cataruben.
A Colombian non-profit has launched a water crediting pilot programme in a 20,000-hectare area of a river basin in its country, while preparing a separate biodiversity credit pilot.
For the water credits, Fundacion Cataruben is implementing nature-based solutions in the Cravo Sur basin, between the regions of Casanare and Boyaca, to preserve and restore essential hydrological ecosystem services such as water supply and regulation, and nutrient control.
The organisation is developing its own methodology for water credits, the organisation told Carbon Pulse.
The programme will focus on conserving and restoring gallery and cloud forests, high-altitude ecosystems, and floodable savannas across a 20,000-ha area within the 500,000-ha Cravo Sur basin over the next 20 years.
It will also foster practices that combine forestry with farming among local communities, Cataruben said.
“Water credits will be crucial to channel funding toward the organisation’s efforts to maintain and rebuild water supply, mitigate floods and droughts, reduce river sedimentation, and mitigate water eutrophication,” Daniel Eduardo Ospina, water project coordinator at Cataruben, told Carbon Pulse.
WATER PROGRAMME
The methodology is based on the so-called ‘curve number index’, a parameter used to estimate water infiltration and surface runoff. The higher the curve number, the more runoff can be expected for a given rainfall event.
One unit will represent the improvement in water infiltration of an area of land of one cubic meter for one year, with the estimated credit prices ranging from $10 to $30.
During the pilot, Cataruben will measure the baseline to quantify the additionality and the number of credits generated by the project, leveraging both field observation and the geographic information systems.
Cataruben is planning to issue its first credits in the following years, Ospina said, depending on the project implementation timeline.
“We’ll use those credits as a financial mechanism for certifying infiltration additionality achieved through our nature-based solutions.”
“These certifications are negotiated with companies interested in contributing to water sustainability and offsetting their water footprint.”
The aim is to sell the credits to the same water users in the basin, with the organisation currently in the process of identifying all the companies that operate in the area, Ospina said.
“Companies around the world are also invited to purchase those credits, but we want to give priority to people who actually use the basin water,” Ospina said.
The water methodology will be certified under the ASES On-Chain Protocol.
ASES, a Franco-Mexican environmental engineering company, has already started piloting separate water crediting projects in three Mexican states – Durango, Oaxaca, and Chihuahua – developed by its subsidiary Nat5. Like Cataruben, Nat5 also used the curve number to quantify credits.
BIODIVERSITY CREDITS
Besides water credits, Cataruben is working on several biodiversity credit pilots in different areas of the country that it expects to launch next year.
The foundation is in the process of selecting the methodology that will underpin the initiatives, Daniela Porras Florez, biodiversity leader at Cataruben, told Carbon Pulse. Plan Vivo, BioCarbon, and Terrasos are among the candidates.
Cataruben plans to issue the first biodiversity credits from the pilots in 2026, Porras Florez said.
The foundation will carry out monitoring and conservation initiatives across different ecosystems in Colombia, including over 40,000 ha of savannas in Puerto Lopez, as well as coastal mangrove restoration projects and regenerative tourism.
By Giada Ferraglioni – giada@carbon-pulse.com
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