It has always been at the core philosophy of APJM, and as means of sustainability, that every project should generate impacts and be sustained beyond the life of the project, or its funding.

Therefore, while NGOs might fall into the trap of designing projects based on the donor's needs, APJM's projects are designed to directly answer the gaps identified locally. The needs were first identified in 2009 during a socio-economic survey describing the socio-economic profile of the local communities, or during scientific research done by experts, and were later on updated by APJM staff or experts.

Activities are subsequently planned to answer APJM's mission and vision, and fit into APJM's Management Plan and Strategy. The project management structure is designed to fit into the organizational chart of APJM. As activities often target or are implemented in partnership with local stakeholders, activities also build on existing local skills and know-how, and aim at their leverage.

Most project activities are therefore sustained beyond the project funding, on both financial and operation levels, and projects turn into programs, or sub-activities of programs.

The mechanism for the retribution of ecosystem services (MRSE) seeks to ensure the sustainability of the adaptation measures designed. To identify the contributors (who provide the ecosystem service) and retributors (users of the service who contribute resources), a rapid hydrological diagnosis was prepared, which also characterized the sub-basin and identified the priority ecosystem service and water demand. In order to reach agreements, both parties had to be made aware of the benefits and their responsibilities. The contributors are: the authorities, users of the Huancayo water and sanitation service provider (SEDAM Huancayo), individual farmers and organizations in the sub-basin, and the contributor is the Acopalca Community.

The MRSE steering committee was then formed with the participation of the institutions involved. Within this framework, an agreement was signed whereby the urban population (Huancayo) reimburses the Acopalca community for ecosystem conservation by creating a fund to develop sustainable ecosystem management projects. In addition, SEDAM Huancayo, in updating its Optimized Master Plan, incorporates the MRSE, including investment projects for recovery, conservation, and sustainable use.

The purpose of this component was to raise awareness among the urban population in order to promote water-saving practices to meet pending social demand. A call was made to the population to save water and avoid, for example, watering gardens, washing cars, the so-called portable pools that require 7,000 liters of water to be filled, an amount equivalent to 15 days of family consumption, according to figures provided by the National Superintendence of Sanitation Services - Sunass.

Simple and key messages were transmitted, some of which were: a family (of six members) in the cities should consume between 15 and 18 cubic meters per month, however, the real consumption is between 20 and 25, "so families are wasting the liquid".

The adoption of changes in household consumption habits was promoted, for example, introducing a bottle of water in the toilet tank, which would save up to two liters of liquid per flush. Consider taking five-minute showers and turning off the faucet while soaping up. This could save up to 40 liters of water.

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 Climate Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (CVCA) methodology seeks to understand the socio-economic dimensions of vulnerability to climate change and to identify adaptation actions to be implemented. The methodology relates the impacts of climate change to the livelihoods of the rural population, including the ecosystems on which they depend for their subsistence. Thus, one of the main rural incomes comes from livestock farming, which depends on natural pastures. It is an ecosystem that, in addition to providing food for livestock, in good conditions provides hydrological ecosystem services that ensure the water supply in the Shullcas River sub-basin. This is the main water source for the rural settlements that live along its banks and for the city of Huancayo. Its waters are used for human consumption, agriculture, livestock, fish farming, and power generation.

The CVCA provided a qualitative baseline and identified ecosystem-based community adaptation components/strategies such as reforestation and conservation of grasslands and natural pastures that adjusted the initial designs. Finally, the CVCA strengthened capacities and promoted participation.

The experience was complemented with the hydrogeological study of the functioning of the qochas and pastures in the recharge of aquifers in the Huacrahuacho micro-watershed. For this purpose, monitoring was carried out by analyzing the isotopic concentrations of Deuterium (H2) and Oxygen 18 (O18), which allows determining the dynamics of the water masses in the subsoil, including the interrelation between the reservoirs (qochas) and the springs in the nearby areas. The study was conducted by the Peruvian Institute of Nuclear Energy (IPEN). It also mentions the benefits of recovering diversity (agrostological variety), improving the beauty of the landscape, revaluing traditional knowledge, and strengthening the organization. This information was disseminated through communication strategies aimed at the local population to motivate continuity in the implementation of the actions.

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.