Fundación Natura Bolivia

Organisation’s aim: To protect forests and develop sustainable natural resource management to conserve water-producing ecosystems, with the mission to improve the quality of life for local communities in Bolivia. To manage and implement their Watershared model that maintains the hydrological function of forests to ensure clean water for all.

Partner History

Natura Bolivia was founded in 2003 to protect water sources through forest conservation and sustainable natural resource management for a system that works for both people and wildlife.

Since its creation, the organisation has seen its Watershared model rolled out by 52 municipal governments in Bolivia, with 6,800-plus indigenous people and 270,000 downstream water users joining forces to preserve over 367,000 hectares of water-producing forest.

Partnership with WLT

World Land Trust (WLT) was introduced to Natura Bolivia by our operational partner Nature and Culture International (NCI) in 2015. Nigel Asquith from Natura Bolivia visited the WLT office to discuss project opportunities later that year.

In 2016, and thanks to funding from Arcadia, WLT was able to begin supporting Natura Bolivia’s work to create municipal protected areas and work with local communities on better land management in the Bolivian Chaco.

In 2018, WLT and NCI jointly funded the creation of Héroes del Chaco Historical and Wildlife Municipal Reserve. This protects 664,484 acres of Bolivian Dry Chaco forest, safeguarding species such as Guanaco, Jaguar, Chacoan Peccary and Lowland Tapir.

In 2019, WLT also helped Natura Bolivia preserve Área de Vida Guajukaka or ‘Guanaco Reserve’, forming a continuous corridor of protected forests for Bolivian wildlife across the reserves.