Transboundary Cooperation and Science for Sustainable Management of Amazon waters

Side Event (Spanish)

For the Plurinational State of Bolivia, South-South cooperation for the integral and sustainable management of systems of life is essential to move towards the restoration of harmony with Mother Earth. Such efforts are particularly relevant in the Amazon context.

The Amazon River Basin is the largest drainage basin on the planet, discharging about 20% of the liquid freshwater into the Atlantic Ocean, while covering close to 45% of the land area of the South America. Multi-level governance in the Amazon basin, including transboundary cooperation, among various actors and across sectors is essential to ensure adequate integrated water management in order to ensure water and sanitation as a human right.

A key form of transboundary cooperation entails a common vision, harmonized planning as well as different modalities of knowledge exchange, and joint research on water related issues. Thes processes require a strong national expertise, regional cooperation in the framework of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization – ACTO, and specialized multilateral mechanisms such as the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP).

This side event will discuss significant advances, challenges and opportunities in the area of regional cooperation on data, information and knowledge generation and sharing in the Amazon basin, detailing the outlook and commitments of relevant partnerships.

Objective

To discuss the advances, challenges and opportunities for transboundary IWRM, data, monitoring, and knowledge sharing in the Amazon Basin in the regional framework of the ACTO.

Intended audience

Representatives of Member States, regional and local governments, UN entities, intergovernmental organizations, academia, civil society and other stakeholders are invited to participate in the side event.

Speakers

Programme

2:00 pm –  Opening (5 min)

• Amb. Carlos Lazary, Executive Director of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization

2:06 pm – Welcome (8 min)

• Ms. Alexandra Moreira, Secretary General of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization

2:14 pm  – High-level introduction (10 min)

• H.E. Mr. Luis Arce Catacora, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia

2:25 pm – Keynote speaker (5 min)

• Mr. Sebastian Heilpern, Science Panel for the Amazon

2:30 pm – Panel discussion (40 min)

• Ms. Veronica Sanchez da Cruz Rios, President, Director of ANA-Brazil. Amazon Water Quality Report: Regional data for improved decision-making. Launch of the Amazon Water Quality Report.
• Mr. Gerardo Amarilla, Undersecretary of Environment and President of CeReGAS. Cooperation on transboundary aquifers under ISARM Americas.
• Mr. Miguel Doria,  IHP Regional Hydrologist for LAC-UNESCO
• Mr. Gustavo Mendez, Regional Chief, Water and Sanitation Division Inter-American Development Bank

3:10 pm – Conclusion and commitments (5 min)