Resource Investment Optimization System (RIOS)

RIOS is a free and open source software tool that supports the design of cost-effective investments in watershed services. RIOS provides a standardized, science-based approach to watershed management in contexts throughout the world. It combines biophysical, social and economic data to help users identify the best locations for protection and restoration activities in order to maximize the ecological return on investment, within the bounds of what is socially and politically feasible.

Name of Parent Organization

Natural Capital Project, University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund

Name of Resource

Owner, Founder, or Sponsor

Latin American Water Funds Partnership, The Nature Conservancy, Fundacion FEMSA, IDB

Typical Use Case

Investors can use RIOS to design investment portfolios that show where investments will be most cost-effective and feasible, and then using a suite of quantitative models to estimate how much benefit investors can expect to receive from those investments.

Thoughts?

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