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STORY: If you trek high into the Andes that straddle the border between Colombia and Ecuador you will find a fragile ecosystem crucial to the water and energy supply for both nations.:: Guatavita, ColombiaThese high-altitude wetlands, called paramos, regulate the water cycle by absorbing and slowly releasing rainwater.But as deforestation pushes human settlement higher into the Andes, and a warming climate threatens to starve the paramos of rain, grassroots activists in Colombia and Ecuador are fighting to protect them.:: This EarthThese Ecuadorian women are among 13 members of El Tablon, a rural community outside the capital, Quito, who work in a nursery for paper trees. :: Paluguillo, EcuadorThe name comes from their thin, many-layered bark. The trees are then replanted in the paramo.The initiative is run by the Fund for Protecting Water or FONAG, set up by the international advocacy group Nature Conservation.Diana Sopalo and the others who work in this nursery have already planted 40,000 paper trees, and are growing 100,000 more.She says the paper trees are native to the paramo, and release water, little by little.:: Alto Pita, EcuadorAnd that water is desperately needed down in Quito.Paola Fuentes is a water analysis specialist with FONAG.:: Paola Fuentes, Water analysis specialist“The water originates in this area, that's why we call them source or areas of water recharge, and conserving these paramo, these wetlands, is essential for the low areas in the city. Almost all the population of Quito is supplied with water that comes from the paramo."And the water is even more desperately needed over the border in Colombia.Drought has led to rotating water rationing in Bogota, Colombia's capital of almost 10 million people, while Ecuador's energy grid has been pushed to the brink, prompting power cuts to conserve water in dams.:: Paluguillo, EquadorBoth countries are largely dependent on hydroelectric dams for domestic energy.Colombia suspended electricity exports to its neighbor to shore up its own power reserves. The crisis comes as Colombia prepares to host the United Nations' conference on biodiversity in the city of Cali at the end of October.Patricia Bejarano is the director of the sustainable high mountain landscapes program run by Conservation International's Colombian chapter.:: Patricia Bejarano, Director of the High Mountain Landscapes program, Conservation International Colombia:: Sesquile, Colombia"The problem of Amazon deforestation, combined with the variations of the climate that are caused by climate change and by the degradation of the soil is what has caused the water dynamics to change. What we seek is to work with farmer communities to recover some characteristics of these ecosystems, which allow us to improve resilience and reduce vulnerability.":: Guatavita, ColombiaA park in Guatavita, Colombia, that had been used for cattle grazing has now been a protected area since 2018, and fragile species have slowly grown on the land.Doris Ramos works on environmental affairs for the Guatavita mayor's office, and says their efforts could have significant impacts, but are facing significant risks.:: Doris Ramos, Works with Guatavita mayor's office"Well, we have the problem of climate variability. While we are restoring this ecosystem, it brings great potential for water, flora and fauna, ecosystems. It is also vulnerable to all the consequences of climate change.”
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