‘Bright Spots’ — How to change things when change is hard

Welcome to the Water Funds community!

Thank you so much for your moving response to our call for ‘Bright Spots’ as the world faces unprecedented challenges. We are truly impressed and encouraged by the variety of beautiful submissions we’ve received around the different topics and themes, helping to inspire us and motivate our work during these difficult times across the globe. This page is dedicated to summarizing and highlighting everything that the WFN collects over the ~6 weeks of this ‘Bright Spots’ initiative which started on Earth Day (April 22nd, 2020). To tell us a bit more, here is the initial short intro video by Water Funds Network (WFN) Manager, Emily Simmons:

Emily Simmons, Water Funds Network (WFN) Manager at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), gives an introduction into the ‘Bright Spots’ activity. For more about the WFN visit: https://waterfundstoolbox.org/network.

GUIDELINES: If you’d like to contribute a ‘Bright Spot’, simply send an email directly to Emily Simmons and/or David Schaub-Jones with whatever it is that’s given you a moment of joy, excitement, hope or inspiration around the latest theme that we announce every week on Wednesdays. This can be a recent photo, article, quote, publication, idea, or anything else around the specified topic that you’d like to share with others. Participation is completely optional, but if you do want to submit something, make sure you do so before the next upcoming Wednesday when the Bright Spots theme changes.

NOTE: for any photos taken by, or contain images of non-TNC staff, please also send along a signed copy of the 1-page release form found here.

The WFN ‘Bright Spots’ initiative concluded on June 10th, 2020. Keep scrolling down though to see all the wonderful submissions and summary videos from each week.

— — WEEK 6 (“WHAT CAN BE SCALED FOR WATER SECURITY”) — —

The WFN ‘Bright Spots’ initiative has now come to a close, but we’re happy to share with you the new (but last) video from Week 6 that summarizes everything you sent in around the theme of ‘scaling for water funds/water security’. Some members shared a particular approach or strategy a water fund has taken that led to a positive outcome and has potential to be replicated, and some looked to other case studies or examples around water security that we can learn from to potentially improve our conservation work. Thank you to all our members for being a part of this exciting effort to capture experiences, share success stories, and learn from one another. Week 6 closed on Wednesday June 10th, and marks the official conclusion to this WFN ‘Bright Spots’ initiative.

Week 6 — WHAT CAN BE SCALED FOR WATER SECURITY — summary video of ‘Bright Spots’ submitted by Water Funds Network (WFN) members during the final week of this initiative.

WEEK 6 FEATURE: Final thoughts from Daniel Shemie, Water Fund Strategy Lead for TNC.

Dear friends and colleagues

For over six years now, this community of practice has been meeting up to share experiences and hard earned lessons about watershed conservation. We’ve done so largely virtually and with limited resources. And despite a membership that spans continents, cultures, and language barriers, we always manage to find a lot of things in common. I still find that remarkable.

Since we’re all so isolated, what we have in common strikes me as a good place to build from. It’s surely an understatement to say that the past few months have been tough and if you’re like me, you’ve been craving some good news. I hope that in some small measure, this Bright Spots initiative has provided that.

Scrolling through the Medium page, I see non-stop positivity and inspiration. I especially liked Henrick’s shout out to the Quilombola community in Rio Claro, Brazil whose bird monitoring helps to measure watershed health. That’s so much cooler than turbidity, right? Or perhaps I’m biased because song birds here in New York sound especially beautiful this spring.

But all good things must come to end. Or do they? If you liked Bright Spots, take a look at the book that inspired it: “SWITCH”. It makes a strong case to focus on what is working when things are hard.

Thanks to everyone who contributed and special thanks to Emily and David for the great initiative!

Daniel

“WHAT CAN BE SCALED FOR WATER SECURITY” — WEEK 6 (selected highlights)

Community Initiatives Manager in Maine, Tamara Lee Pinard shares: “Here is a short video from Sebago Clean Waters that was released the first week of May (in the midst of lockdown) in honor of Drinking Water Week and got a minimum of 1,637 views. The Filtering the Flow video succinctly (1.21 mins) gets out the message connecting forest, water, and beer. The video exemplifies a wonderful partnership with Portland Maine breweries, particularly since the bulk of the views came from Rising Tide and Allagash, who shared the video on their IGTV channels. We look forward to continuing to grow our partnership with Portland Maine breweries and to more people viewing this awesome video!”

“This new article (and video) about the Fonag Water Fund in Ecuador helps illustrate the potential of engaging a wide spectrum of stakeholders.” — Water Funds Specialist Jaime Camacho shares: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/in-the-ecuadoran-andes-protectors-of-the-paramos-guard-their-water-source/

Samuel Rophie Barretto, Water Program Manager in Brazil, shares a press release about a recent virtual workshop, and explains: “Here on the water policy agenda, we are working at different levels (tiers) to engage in a more deep and transformative way the sanitation sector in Brazil to include SbN4WSP as part of its responsibilities and investments in that agenda as well. And so, creating an important pillar of long-term financial sustainability architecture and strategy, which includes actions in the Water Funds, but goes beyond them.
In this sense, we are acting at the local level from — as you know — the first case in Brazil with the initiative of Santa Catarina, which incorporated investments in SbN4WSP into the tariff structure. But now to amplify this approach in the São Paulo state and to create this same mechanism as in Santa Catarina but in a huge scale with the Water Regulatory Agency, Arsesp and working align with the water utility-Sabesp. This change will take place in 2021. Deadline for the next revision of the tariff structure in which it will consider SbN4WSP.
We are also working in Brasília and Minas Gerais with this same agenda disseminating this agenda state level. At the national level we are working with the Brazilian Association of Regulatory Agencies, ABAR. In this sense, we help to create a Working Group of Springs-Head-catchments that participate in the main water regulatory agencies in Brazil. TNC is the only NGO participating.
Within a year, a type of white paper should be prepared to be released to all water regulatory agencies in Brazil including the National Water Agency — ANA, showing that SBN4WSP is part of the responsibilities of the sanitation sector and that they must also have investments for this.
As part of this journey, we recently promoted a workshop with companies and water regulatory agencies in Brazil. The virtual realization of this scenario was very good. It was attended by more than 70 people from the 5 regions of Brazil. Starting to coin this agenda within the sector. And that was what I wanted to share with you, since this process is something to transform and structure the Sanitation Policy in Brazil. I send this release for you in attachment. I hope this story can be useful for share with our water colleagues across in TNC. This initiative is developed by TNC and IKI through the Water Funds Alliance of Latin America” (https://tnc.box.com/s/dekvduypwss2r59bugiqsr2xzt28vc09)

“Training programs are a great way to share learnings and scale best practices. To illustrate, here’s a 2 minute video of a TNC-led soil health training program in Nairobi, Kenya, helping scale success.” — Emily Simmons

“Working with smallholder farmers/communities to sustainably manage their lands through climate smart agriculture. When we create a win-win situation with the land owners to conserve the ecosystem, we all emerge victors.” — John Gathagu, Africa Water Fund Program Assistant

Jackie Hall, New Mexico’s Director of Philanthropy shares with us: “The Rio Grande Water Fund (RGWF), which secures water for half of the New Mexico’s population, is serving as a model for communities in the Western US and around the world. Scaling up forest restoration AND our partnerships — now totaling over 85 — is helping us to meet the RGWF’s original vision of healthy forests and watersheds that provide a reliable supply of high-quality Rio Grande water and other benefits for New Mexico. The attached article also highlights many of the co-benefits of the work of the RGWF including job creation and the importance of the initiative to tourism and recreation.” — https://tnc.box.com/s/q1ah9y49smfq4agffbavsxgcaq32vdcx

— — — WEEK 5 (“WHAT TO KEEP AFTER THE LOCKDOWN”) — — —

Week 5’s theme was around things that have worked well during the pandemic lockdowns that you would like to keep or continue going forward. You can also think of this as ‘silver linings during COVID’ which does not need to be water or nature related. Here is the video that summarizes all of the great submissions you sent in. Scroll down further as well to see more highlights and features both from this week and weeks prior.

Week 5 — WHAT TO KEEP AFTER THE LOCKDOWN — summary video of ‘Bright Spots’ submitted by Water Funds Network (WFN) members during Week 5.

WEEK 5 FEATURE: The source of this ‘Bright Spots’ initiative.

If you’re curious about where this ‘Bright Spots’ idea actually originated from, in this short video our very own David Schaub-Jones (TNC’s Water Funds Programme Manager) reveals the source, touches a little bit on the themes for the final two weeks of this initiative (Week 5 & Week 6), and describes the potential when we scale up from positive experiences and success stories, even when change is hard.

David Schaub-Jones, TNC’s Water Funds Programme Manager, gives us a glimpse into “SWITCH” — the source of the ‘Bright Spots’ opportunity — and describes the themes of what to submit in Week 5 and Week 6 (the final two rounds of this effort).

Whether you’re a student, a teacher, a writer, a rapper, a producer or something completely different, what percentage of your time do you spend focused on problems? What would it look like to instead spend that time finding, investing in and scaling the bright spots where success already exists? (HusslingtonPost.com)

Click here to find out more about the ‘Bright Spots’ approach to bringing about social and environmental change.

“WHAT TO KEEP AFTER THE LOCKDOWN” — WEEK 5 (selected highlights)

Jacqueline Dudley, based in South Africa, shared 4 amazing ‘Bright Spots’ that she’s witnessed in her community since the lockdown. Here’s her description:

“The spirit of community has shone brightly during this time, spotlighting the best of human nature, and I’m hoping that four things in particular carry over into our post-lockdown world:

1. COMMUNITY CELEBRATIONS — Every night at 8pm my entire neighbourhood comes out of their homes to celebrate our healthcare and essential services workers through loud and joyful noises of all kinds — trumpets, drums, vuvuzelas, pots and pans, happy whoops and song! I think it’s also a way for all of us to reaffirm our connection to one another during this time of isolation, a nightly reminder that we are still a community, all close by, who will get through this time together.
2. COMMUNITY SUPPORT — Our neighbourhood watch started separate Whatsapp groups for each street, and offers of support are extended on these groups each week. It’s been so heartening to experience the kindness of strangers towards one another, doing whatever they can to meet the needs of the community.
3. COMMUNITY EXERCISE — Due to the strict daily window that we have to exercise (6–9am), the entire community appears together on streets and fields each morning to enjoy some fresh air and get their circulation going. I’ve loved seeing families together, many of whom are doing this for the first time, countless happy dogs and earnest joggers, all united in enjoying the simple joy of being outside and, as an added bonus, creating a safe outdoor space through sheer numbers!
4. Also, RAINBOWS! On gates, on walls, in windows, on signposts — the perfect symbol of hope and joy, long may these reminders last!”

Maria Isabel Cruz Gutierrez, based in Mexico shared: “I have friends all over the world but only during this lockdown are we now doing constant Zoom meetings. Even though we could’ve been doing that before, it’s now something I want to continue going forward.”

Jackie Hall, based in New Mexico shared: “As an “early bird,” I’m usually in the office each day between 7am — 7:30am. Since we have been working from home, I have created some flexibility in my schedule allowing myself, and my favorite trail companion Buddy the Wonder Dog, to squeeze in a daily sunrise hike before I dive into work. This starts my day on the right foot, so to speak, and I hope to continue this practice once we are back in our offices.”

Bright Spot and comment from David Schaub-Jones, TNC’s Water Funds Programme Manager: “As someone who has lived both in London and in South East Asia– and has experienced first hand the terrible challenges that air pollution poses — it was a great bright spot for me to see this switch to pedestrianised London and the mayor’s plans for a green recovery. This is surely something other cities could replicate?”

— — — — — — WEEK 4 (“INSPIRING FIGURES”) — — — — — —

Week 4’s ‘Bright Spots’ theme gave WFN members an opportunity to think about the people or outcomes that have impressed or even motivated them recently. This is because we proposed that ‘inspiring figures’ could be interpreted as an inspirational number (e.g. “X # hectares conserved”), a diagram (e.g. “illustrative info-graphic”), and/or a person (e.g. “water heros”). I hope you enjoy this summary video of what was sent in, and don’t forget to scroll down to see the new feature from this week, as well as additional details about all the ‘inspiring figures’ submitted in Week 4.

Week 4 — INSPIRING FIGURES — summary video of ‘Bright Spots’ submitted by Water Funds Network (WFN) members during Week 4.

WEEK 4 FEATURE: The inspiring people (and numbers) behind South Africa’s Greater Cape Town Water Fund!

Click for the full video or go to https://youtu.be/Lc24wzy0OJc (NOTE: you can slow down or speed up this video by pressing the settings wheel icon at the bottom next to “YouTube” and selecting “Playback speed”.)

The Cape Floristic region is the smallest of six global floral kingdoms, a UNESCO World Heritage site and biodiversity hotspot with 9 500 plant species, 70% of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Alien plant invasions are one of the biggest threats to this global biodiversity hotspot.

55 billion litres of water are lost every year as a result of non-native tree invasions in the watersheds. Worse still, invasive pines burn up to 10 times hotter than native fynbos, destroy seedbanks, cause erosion, are difficult to control and pose a risk to communities in the watershed.

Restoring the Greater Cape Town Region’s watersheds protects biodiversity and improves climate change resilience. The Greater Cape Town Water Fund is expected to reclaim 100 billion liters every year within thirty years, cheaper than any engineered alternative.

To remove the pines, high altitude teams are dropped by helicopter in remote mountainous areas to remove these and other invasive trees. “High angle technicians” cut down invasive trees on steep cliffs in remote mountains to do this work, already 120 green jobs have been created.

“INSPIRING FIGURES” — WEEK 4 (selected highlights)

Shown above (from left to right) is Silvia Benitez, Mu Quan, and Louise Stafford. Three amazing colleagues who lead our water funds work at TNC. This week Daniel Shemie shared that the represent “a small sample of many inspiring Water Fund colleagues.”

This is a screenshot from the Rio Grande Water Funds’ 2019 annual report. Inspiring ‘figures’ indeed! Thank you Jackie Hall for sharing!

On Monday, May 18th 2020, TNC welcomed Jennifer Morris as the organization’s brand new CEO! Here is the inspiring piece she wrote and shared during her first day on the job: https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/who-we-are/our-people/jennifer-morris/time-to-act-climate-change/

“Extrema’s Environmental Secretary Paulo Pereira hugs a tree where reforestation has commenced in the Mantiqueira mountain range, Brazil. TNC’s Tackle Climate Change Program.” © Robert Clark

— — WEEK 3 (“UPSTREAM COMMUNITIES & WATERSHEDS” ) — —

Week 3 has shed light on so many amazing Bright Spots when it comes to upstream communities and watersheds. I hope you enjoy this summary video of all the moments of inspiration and happiness that WFN members submitted:

Week 3 — UPSTREAM COMMUNITIES & WATERSHEDS — summary video of Bright Spots submitted by Water Funds Network (WFN) members.

WEEK 3 FEATURE: — “A treat for your ears” — This video, submitted by TNC’s Ana Garcia, is a peaceful 15 second clip of flowing water and singing birds that she captured while walking through her neighborhood park in Arlington, VA. She shares with us that it’s a place where she can recharge and connect. The sounds are just so beautiful. Thank you Ana!

“UPSTREAM COMMUNITIES & WATERSHEDS” — WEEK 3 (selected highlights)

WFN member Henrik Hartmann submitted this photo (by Martin Schultz / AfriSki) stating: “In late April, Lesotho saw some unseasonably early snowfall. The highland country is considered the water tower of Southern Africa, but it has suffered a series of droughts in recent years. Lesotho provides vital water resources to its neighbouring countries, including to the bustling metropolis of Johannesburg.”

Hendrik Mansur (with Samuel Barreto) shared how ‘Biodiversity in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest is an important indicator of a healthy watershed. The Rio de Janeiro Water Fund is working with the Quilombola community in Rio Claro on socioeconomic opportunities including bird monitoring.’ (The bird in the photo is a Spix’s spinetail/João-tenenem)

Lisa Kushner: “A feel good story, made possible in part by TNC. General Mills has been supporting the Rio Grande Water Fund in New Mexico for several years because they have a plant in Albuquerque and want to improve water security. The Albuquerque plant makes Nature Valley granola bars among other things. One of the signatories of the RGWF is the Jemez Pueblo. The General Mills plant sustainability manager learned through TNC that the Pueblo is experiencing more food needs because of COVID, so they just delivered 10 pallets of granola bars to the Pueblo! The community building side of water funds in action!” (Photo is of a General Mills volunteer tree planting event)

Nashon Wafula: “I am doing conservation of bees and their habitat along River Chevaywa in Malava sub county of Kakamega, Kenya. Decline in bee population has been noticed in my locality as a result of wantom destruction of bee habitats due to settlement and charcoal burning. This is also coupled with indiscriminate use of harmful pesticides to bees. Doing river bank conservation, farm agroforestry and beekeeping helps save this important and vital insect to mankind. Bees provide honey as food and aid in pollination thus increasing food production. Bees are important and require to be conserved.”

Froylan Hernandez-Ruiz: “My ‘bright spot’ are these two pictures that Alfonso Torres from the Arhuaco Tribe shared with me last week. Arhuacos are original stewards of the land and protectors of water sources in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia.”

Sierra Harris: “Here is a photo of TNC staff assisting Montana’s Dept of Env. Quality (MT-DEQ) with water-quality monitoring in the Red Rock Watershed. It was a great collaborative project for TNC as our staff live, work and manage land/waterways (Sand Hills Preserve, Centennial Valley) in the Red Rock Watershed. We all have a vested interest (even the cows) in protecting our water quality and quantity.”

Jackie Hall: “I wanted to share this op-ed about the Rio Grande Water Fund that was written by the CEO of the Taos Ski Valley, David Norden. The Town of Taos and Taos Ski Valley, upstream communities, are important partners in the Rio Grande Water Fund. As David points out in the piece, the efforts undertaken in these upstream communities have directly benefited both local and downstream water users. https://www.taosnews.com/stories/taos-ski-valley,59304"

— — — — — — — WEEK 2 (“WATER SECURITY” )— — — — — — —

In contrast to Week 1 where submissions were mostly photos, Week 2 included Bright Spots in a variety of exciting formats. The following video is a summary of all the images, videos, books, and more that we received within the theme of water security, water availability, water quality or a mix of of these. We hope it provides you with the same inspiration we’ve been feeling from this amazing water funds community.

Week 2 — WATER SECURITY — summary video of Bright Spots submitted by WFN members.

WEEK 2 FEATURE: — The Rio Grande Water Fund — Daniel Shemie, TNC’s Water Funds Strategy Lead, shares with the Water Funds Network some of his favorite ‘Bright Spots’ submitted in Week 2 of this initiative, of which the theme was water security. See his video below.

More information about the Rio Grande Water Fund can be found at: https://waterfundstoolbox.org/regions/north-america/rio-grande-water-fund

“WATER SECURITY” — WEEK 2 (selected highlights)

Sierra Harris: “My bright spot for this week was looking through photos of all the amazing fieldwork opportunities I have had in my 5 years with TNC. I feel very, very lucky to get to run around MT working on water projects… I have seen so many beautiful places and had a lot of fun! The attached photo is from 2017 when TNC staff and volunteers installed beaver mimicry structures & planted willow stakes on Robb Creek (in the Ruby Watershed in southwest MT) in early spring. Robb Creek has become badly incised due to overgrazing and re-routing for irrigation purposes. The landowner has been VERY willing to let TNC use their land as a test area for our natural water storage projects. I miss fieldwork and am looking forward to getting back out there soon and seeing how our projects have fared over the long winter months.”

A Bright Spot for Emily Simmons this week was learning that “TNC New Zealand made a significant step forward in the creation of the country’s first water fund for the Waikato River.”’

Jackie Hall: “the TNC-NM staff contributed a chapter about the Rio Grande Water Fund to a book that focuses on rivers and river restoration. The aim of “Renewing our Rivers”, which is now available through the University of Arizona Press, is to offer essential restoration guidance that allows a start-to-finish overview of what it takes to bring back a damaged stream corridor. You can find more information about the book here: https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/renewing-our-rivers."
(photo on the left is of the Rio Grande in Northern New Mexico)

Daniel Shemie: “”I’m inspired by this video of our Rio Grande WF, as told by Elia Hurtado. A finer spokesperson, I do not know.”

— — — — — — — — — WEEK 1 (“NATURE”) — — — — — — — — —

Most of the submissions — but not all — that were sent to us in Week 1 (theme = NATURE) were photos. The following video is thus a short collage of the images and accompanying quotes we received, which hopefully provides an overall takeaway of the inspiration that was captured. Below that, you’ll find a featured Bright Spot from Week 1, plus a selection of the submissions with more detailed descriptions that members of our water funds network provided us with.

Week 1— NATURE— summary video of Bright Spots submitted by WFN members. (NOTE: you can slow down or speed up this video by pressing the settings wheel icon at the bottom next to “YouTube” and selecting “Playback speed”.)

WEEK 1 FEATURE: While most of the submissions we got were great photos, TNC’s very own Jackie Hall (Director of Philanthropy, New Mexico) also sent through this great email:

This week, Sandra Postel sent me an email. As you may know, Sandra is global water policy expert and previously served as Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. She is also co-creator of Change the Course, the national water stewardship initiative awarded the 2017 US Water Prize for restoring billions of gallons of water to depleted rivers and wetlands. Sandra has been a fan of the Rio Grande Water Fund for many years and even used it as a model in her recent book, Replenish.

Sandra recently wrote an article for The Hill proposing a Climate Preparedness Corps, similar to the Civilian Conservation Corps that was established during the Depression. This brightened my day as it demonstrates the kind of creative problem-solving we need right now in terms of eventually putting people back to work and solving our climate crisis. The bonus? In it, she once again highlights the work of the Rio Grande Water Fund. Here is the article: https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/493634-its-time-to-create-a-climate-preparedness-corps

“Bright Spots can take you full circle!” Emily’s colleague David Schaub-Jones reflecting on the irony of already connecting with one of the Bright Spots sent in during Week 1.

“NATURE” — WEEK 1 (selected highlights)

Tracey Stone: “Spending time on the hiking trails is helping me tremendously during this crazy times. Here’s a recent photo taken from a trail inside the Cave Creek Regional Park in Phoenix.”

Michael Matosich sent in a couple photos of his favourite hiking spot in Canada.

Jackie Hall shared with us this photo of her rescue, Buddy the Wonder Dog, who sits along the Rio Grande River on a recent hike through Santa Fe’s Diablo Canyon.

Sierra Harris was able to celebrate the April birthdays in her family recently in NorthWest Montana. They counted upwards of 20 bald eagles and at least 7 golden eagles (plus gulls & ravens), all gathering on Ashley Lake which was still frozen. “It was very cool, as they were just standing around on the ice.”

The enthusiasm of a young geologist here shines through, finding stones at ‘Valle de las Ánimas’ near La Paz, Bolivia. Thank you for this submission Silvana!

Enaylle Silva: “There is a waterfall 30min from my house, I have been there once a week, very early, before my work starts, to spend about an hour alone, reflect, swim and enjoy the beauty of nature. 😊
I took this picture on a day that the sky was gorgeous.” (Minas Gerais, Brazil)

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(older note about Week 2) Next week’s ‘Bright Spots‘ — A call to arms!

This first week was about collecting positive nature moments from around the world, whatever they may look like. But this coming week, with news breaking that the South Western US is experiencing the harshest drought for 1200 years, we turn our thoughts to the water aspects of Mother Earth and are asking you again to send through some ‘Bright Spots’ — this time with the theme of water security, water availability, water quality or a mix of any of these.

GUIDELINES
If you’d like to contribute in Week 2 of this Bright Spots activity, simply email Emily (esimmons@TNC.org) and/or David (d.schaub-jones@TNC.ORG) directly with whatever it is that’s given you a moment of joy, excitement, hope or inspiration around the theme of water security. This can be in the form of a photo, article, quote, idea, or anything else around the topic that you’d like to share with others. Participation is completely optional, but if you do want to submit something, the deadline for Week 2, is end-of-day this Tuesday, May 5th!

Note: for any photos taken by, or contain images of non-TNC staff, please also send along a signed release form found here.

RESULTS
As with Week 1, we will compile everything that is submitted to us into a user-friendly and hopefully engaging format here on this Medium page, and share back out to you on Wednesday along with the theme for Week 3.

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Checkout the WFN Earth Day newsletter for further introduction to the Bright Spots effort: https://mailchi.mp/93c650f7d7f5/wfn-earth-day-2020-new-resources-opportunities-and-inspiration

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Visit https://waterfundstoolbox.org/network to learn more.