This article is adapted from Doubling Down: The State of Investment in Nature-based Solutions for Water Security, 2025. Jennifer Morris is the CEO of The Nature Conservancy, and Michael Jenkins is the Founding President and CEO of Forest Trends.
Water is everywhere in our lives: not just in what we drink or use to grow food, but in data centers, cooling systems, energy grids, sanitation, and manufacturing. It powers our economies and our everyday routines.
And in much of the world, water is also the face of climate change. We see it in intensifying droughts, catastrophic floods, and the strain on water infrastructure from rising demand and erratic supply. In fact, not only was 2024 the driest year on record, but it also saw record-breaking floods. These extreme events took lives, displaced communities, and contaminated water supplies.
At the same time, approximately half of the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, and 25 countries—home to one-quarter of humanity—face “extremely high” water stress every year. The urgent need to build resilience into our water systems has never been clearer.
Fortunately, one of the most powerful tools to increase resilience is already at hand: nature. Nature-based solutions (NbS)—from restoring wetlands and protecting forests, to improving agricultural practices and naturally recharging groundwater—can play a critical role in securing water resources and buffering communities against climate shocks. When thoughtfully integrated with built infrastructure, like dams and reservoirs, NbS can offer scalable, cost-effective strategies to manage water risk and sustain healthy ecosystems and resilient communities.
Calls to scale investment in NbS have grown dramatically since 2016. Yet despite the headlines and high-profile case studies, it has remained difficult to track whether this momentum has translated into real financial commitments with action on the ground.
Now, we have more data than ever to answer that question. A new report, Doubling Down: The State of Investment in Nature-based Solutions for Water Security, 2025, produced by Forest Trends and The Nature Conservancy, presents the most comprehensive global assessment to date of finance explicitly directed toward NbS with water-related objectives—such as mitigating flood risk, improving water quality, and securing supply.
The clearest takeaway is that investment in NbS for water has doubled over the past decade, growing from approximately US $25 billion in 2016 to reach $49 billion in 2023—equal to one-third of the financial flows into global biodiversity conservation (as estimated in 2019). Public sector funding continues to dominate, underlining the importance of policy frameworks and consistent public investment.
But private finance from the water sector and other funders is also beginning to emerge, which presents new and exciting possibilities for the future of NbS. Understanding how to unlock this funding stream will be critical to scaling the adoption of NbS for water around the world and further mainstreaming its implementation.
NbS for water security are one of the most resilient funding streams, and this report illustrates how even major economic slowdowns like the COVID pandemic failed to dampen investors’ interest.
Even more, investing in nature is popular among the public. Polling shows that there is broad support for natural climate solutions, with 94% of U.S. voters and 84% of Canadian voters in favor of expanding strategies to better manage and restore our forests, grasslands, and wetlands. This support crosses party lines, reaching 99% of Democrats, 94% of independents, and 89% of Republicans in the United States. People across the political spectrum know that protecting and restoring nature is the smartest investment we can make.
NbS can play a significant role in improving water management and security for communities around the world. Innovative watershed protection programs like water funds—the first of which was launched 25 years ago in Quito, Ecuador by TNC and the city’s water utility company—bring public and private stakeholders together to sustainably manage local watersheds. By protecting and restoring ecosystems, these programs support biodiversity in the region while saving cities money and helping them secure a supply of high-quality water for communities.
We’re also seeing what’s possible when national policy and cross-sector partnerships build on local experience and leadership to bring NbS investment to scale. Forest Trends demonstrated the power of this alignment through the Natural Infrastructure for Water Security project in Peru, working alongside government agencies, utilities, engineers, and communities to translate growing interest in NbS into practical mechanisms, capacities, and projects that began delivering NbS investments at scale. In 2023 alone, investment in NbS for water security across 50 of the 53 watersheds of Peru reached over $80 million—7x growth from 2016 and the highest of any country in Latin America. Tracking over 200 projects, including watershed restoration projects that used innovative funding from public investment systems and budgets, this transformation required cross-sector collaboration.
With new data in hand, we now have a clear-eyed view of how governments, investors, and institutions are mobilizing resources—and where the untapped opportunities lie. We hope it helps turn insight into action, accelerating and diversifying finance for NbS, closing the global nature finance gap, and building a more water-secure, climate-resilient future for all.
Viewpoints showcases expert analysis and commentary from the Forest Trends team.
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