The Miyun Reservoir Watershed, located between Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, supplies drinking water to over 11 million people in Beijing. It is the most important water source which stores water from the giant South-to-North Water Diversion Project. To safeguard the water quality of the reservoir, since 2013, IUCN has applied Nature-based Solutions upstream of the reservoir including forest landscape restoration with biodiversity conservation, the establishment of agroforestry and the riparian buffer zone, improvement of domestic sewage management, green infrastructure, and the establishment of an environmental education center.

By using natural infrastructure to deal with the water crisis, the project seeks to demonstrate ecological rehabilitation and protection of watersheds to ensure sustainable supplies of drinking water for Beijing. The project also analysed ecosystem functions and services, especially for water supply and purification, and developing strategies to guide landscape restoration.