Trust Funds as a Tool to Protect the Water Source Areas: A Case Study in Longwu, Zhejiang Province

The Shanshui trust fund, Hangzhou’s Longwu reservoir water source protection project, is a public trust project to protect and manage the environment of small drinking water source. It is supported by the Wanxiang Trust–China Nature Conservancy Public Trust. The project use the trust structure to reorganize the farmers, public interest organizations, NGOs, agriculture-related industrial chain, financial institutions, and other multi-integrated agents to achieve public welfare environmental protection and realize economic gains from coordinated development. Likewise, the project played an important role in revitalizing the forestland assets, promoting the deepening of the rural financial system reform, and raising the income of farmers. Aimed at recruiting qualified investors and efficiently integrating social resources, the Shanshui trust fund incorporates various roles of farmers, financial institutions, non-profit organizations, local social groups, downstream agricultural enterprises and consumers into their daily operations to establish a win-win platform of interaction, collaboration and sharing.