A series of measures have been implemented to improve water use, such as the implementation of technified irrigation, improvement of lined canals, and the use of crops resistant to water stress. In the lower zone of the Shullcas sub-basin, 6 technified irrigation systems have been implemented incorporating 261 ha of agricultural land and 2 improved irrigation canals for 175 ha. The families use them, allowing for the efficient use of irrigation water, with results in improved and increased agricultural production, which also represents an improvement in family income (previously only during the rainy season).

Currently, an irrigation system operation and maintenance committee has been formed and has received training to ensure the sustainability of the infrastructure. The training topics have been basically related to operation and maintenance. Both operation and maintenance must be systematic and meticulous, repairs must be carried out on time and must be of good quality and establish the original performance in terms of both capacity and function, ensuring the system's operability throughout its useful life.

The aim was to recover the ecosystems, their water ecosystem services and the service of providing food for livestock. Awareness-raising and agreements were worked on at both the community and family levels. For the implementation, agreements were signed for the installation and maintenance at the family level, since the community has given them possession of the plots of land. In the first stage the project assumed all the costs and later when the benefits were visible, the community contributed their labor. It was implemented:

Reforestation: To contribute to the regulation of the hydrological regime and the health of the ecosystems.

Conservation of natural grasslands: To prevent soil erosion, maintain adequate vegetation cover, enhancing wetland functions, maximizing water infiltration and retention capacity. Includes:

• Temporary closures, in degraded areas that can recover naturally, and that will be subjected to a total restriction of use for a minimum period of three years.
• Construction of infiltration ditches.
• Installation and management of pastures: formation of silvopastures, reintroduction of natural pastures.

The qochas are built by taking advantage of natural depressions in the ground or natural lagoons, constructing a dam to increase the level of the dammed water and therefore capture and store more water from rainfall. Three types of qochas are identified :

1. Water harvesting qochas, used to store water superficially, thanks to their impermeable base and edges.

Water planting qochas, which store water for a short time thanks to their permeable base. The stored water infiltrates and recharges the subsoil and local aquifers.

3. The qochas for planting and harvesting water (mixed): they have both characteristics due to their semi-permeable characteristics.

Structural components: earth, clay and champas dams, the spillway with its overflow ditch, and the collector or adduction channel (where required).

Non-structural components/green measures: complement the qocha forming an integrated system. Conservation of natural grasses, afforestation and reforestation with native species, and infiltration ditches.

The contests, developed at the family and community level, were designed to motivate the implementation of technologies for adaptation to climate change, taking advantage of the culture of healthy competition and family and collective work that exists in rural communities.

The communities and/or families that participated received advice and technical support throughout the process, generating technical capacities for the proper management of natural resources and productive activities, with the focus on increasing the water retention and recharge capacity of the micro-watersheds and contributing to food security.

The families were motivated to demonstrate good practices, which opens the door to local recognition by the population and public and private institutions. During the contests, each family or group carried out activities for the habilitation or improvement of the qochas, such as: elaboration of a talking map, construction of a dam, delimitation of the tributary area (upstream) and area of influence (downstream) of the qocha, rustic collector or feeder canals and infiltration ditches.

The Project Unit Coordinator has been forming an alliance with local governments, research centers and grassroots organizations with specific presence in each of the project basins. This way, effective communication with producers and other actors in the territory could be ensured. Thanks to the network of local NGOs, information and results workshops had high levels of impact and thereby allowed for a more efficient translation of stakeholder insights into practicable solutions in the field. Examples of this support on the ground include: i) the management of different interests and potential conflicts between actors in the Cofre de Perote NPP; ii) the connection of governmental social assistance programs, subsidies, etc., to river basin zones that coincide with the project, which in turn created useful synergies; iii) the establishment of coordinated lines of work from the government level to protected natural areas (ANP) and to CSOs; iv) the coalition among CSOs has had impact on the river basin and in reducing costs, by making complementary use of the different capacities of the actors involved.

As part of PAMIC, great consideration on the dynamics of landscape transformation is being made. There is an attempt to identify and conserve those elements that are key for ecosystem conservation, whether they are of natural or anthropic origin. In PAMIC´s philosophy, conservation does not mean maintaining pristine ecosystems. On the contrary, conservation includes restoring managed landscapes and using sustainable practices. This allows the maintenance of the whole socio-ecological system through a sustainable use of the land, as demonstrated by shade-grown coffee production, agro-silvo-pastoral and community forest management projects, which support both livelihoods and ecosystems. 

PONT is active in the following sectors:

• Conservation and enhancement of biodiversity – we provide long-term operational grants to Protected Areas to increase management effectiveness according to European / International standards. We give grants to Environmental Actors (mainly NGOs and some research institutes) to support important conservations actions in the Protected Areas and in the wider landscape to enhance connectivity conservation in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. For the latter we determined the important Connectivity Conservation Areas.

• Sustainable management of natural resources – local people play a key role in the landscape and therefore we support activities linked to sustainable natural resource management (nature-based tourism; cultivation of medicinal aromatic plants and other non-timer forest products; support to various women groups; shepherds; local participation; citizens science, support to seasonal workers to assist in fire management; maintenance of hiking trails; etc.). Since 2022 PONT adopted and is implementing an Environmental and Social Management System.

The PONT strategy was elaborated by drawing on the experiences of the PONT partners who have worked in the area for a long time. By working directly with these NGOs and protected area management bodies the main conservation and capacity development objectives were determined. This resulted in a strategy focusing on the financing of the gaps and building of strong partnerships with stakeholders that have a mandate, vision and the expertise to achieve the conservation results in the PONT Focus Area. The PONT strategy promotes transboundary cooperation between government and non-government partners based on previous experiences.

The aim of this building block was to promote diversification of families´income and their sources of food through the reforestation of riparian zones using fruit trees and other species of economic importance. People from participating communities were trained on nursing and looking after young plants. In particular, women´s groups were the ones who were trained to carry out delicate activities of caring for seedlings and planting them.

"Without a good water flow, no mangrove system can sustain itself" - said a local NGO field expert. Hence it is important not only to open channels to restore water flows, but also of keeping alive the dynamics of these flows in the long term. One of the activities that most affects wetlands is livestock. The farmers, seeking to provide firm ground for their cows, cover the channels and drain water bodies. In doing so, cattle farming has been affecting marshes and mangroves directly or indirectly. On way to reduce the impact of this activity is to combine the productive interests of the multiple farmers in the area, with the protection of water flows, by building three elevated bridges in piles for the passage of livestock in strategic sites. Also, "living fences" were established around the reforestation areas to keep the area safe. For these fences, plants and trees of economic use were used for the benefit of the communities.