Blue Roots: Climate Investments for Water Ecosystem Services in Piura, Peru

Mayland, district of Lalaquiz, Huancabamba province, Piura, Peru. Photo by FORASAN Piura (2025).

In the highlands of the Piura river basins in northern Peru, a paradox emerges: while these areas are vital for generating and regulating freshwater throughout the region and have enormous ecological potential, local communities face significant economic and environmental challenges for keeping their farming and livelihoods, driving a strong youth migration to the coast.

The problem extends beyond the local level. The Chira–Piura Basin Water Resources Management Plan identifies over 320,000 hectares needing priority action to secure water quality, quantity, and access. Yet traditional public investment alone cannot cover this scale. A sustainable, scalable long‑term financial mechanism is therefore essential.

Although reforestation could solve water and economic problems simultaneously, the lack of initial investment has so far prevented local communities from scaling up this intervention and accessing global climate finance markets.

To overcome this barrier and create a replicable model, in the framework of the  Blue Deal Peru partnership between the Dutch Water Authorities (DWA) and the National Water Authority of Peru, through the Chira-Piura Basin Water Resources Council and its financial mechanism: the Regional Water Fund (FORASAN Piura), the Blue Roots Project : Climate Investments for Water Ecosystem Services in Piura, Peru" was launched and co-financed by the NWB Fund.

The project will focus on Mayland (Lalaquiz district), an area with degraded soils affecting water quality, quantity and availability downstream. Previous studies confirmed that reforestation in this area could sequester more than 127,700 tCO₂ over 25 years and generate significant hydrological co-benefits, such as reducing sediment production by up to 85%, contributing to flood risk reduction downstream. But turning this potential into reality, requires more than trees: national and international financing must be mobilised to scale up interventions.

Therefore, over the next 12 months, Blue Roots will develop a technical and financial proposal to attract investors and funding for implementing a carbon credit project. Using Farm Tree platform technology, the team will put ecologically viable agroforestry and reforestation scenarios online, along with their carbon capture potential.

The objective has an environmental and a governance component. This project fosters FORASAN Piura as an innovative financial manager that connects the wishes of water guardian populations in the mountains with investors and agro-export companies in downstream areas with the international market.

The direct beneficiaries of the project are farming families, who will become owners of carbon assets, creating a new sustainable source of income complementing their farming activities.

El Arrayan sector, Mayland. Photo: FORASAN Piura (2025).

Upon completion, this project will deliver a technical roadmap for implementation and the required terms of reference to move from design to commercialisation. The carbon credit proposal will also be presented to investors, creating opportunities for large scale financing. Blue Roots lays the foundations for integrated water management and activates innovative financial mechanisms that secure future water supplies and create new opportunities for the communities that protect them.

Payaca - Ambuñique River in Mayland area. Photo: FORASAN Piura (2025)

Would you like to be part of this initiative?

For more information, please contact Milagros Sosa (m.sosa-landeo@nooderzijlvest.nl), Jelle Agema (jagema@wetterskipfryslan.nl) or the Technical Secretariat of theChira-Piura Basin Water Resources Council