Within South Africa, the Maloti Drakensberg mountains are the most strategic water source in the region, supplying much of the sub-continent through rivers, and national and international inter- basin transfers. The Maloti Drakensberg mountains fall within the country’s most important water supply area. River catchments within the bioregion form the source or contribute to a number of major rivers, including the Umzimvubu, Umzimkulu, Umkomazi and Thukela on the South African side, and the Vaal and Orange / Senqu Rivers on the Lesotho side. The rivers rising on the South African side contribute over 8000 million m3 in mean annual runoff (MAR) to systems within the region (Diederichs and Mander 2004). This initiative has developed a model for investment in water security by using the trade in ecosystem services as sustainable foundation.