The recently approved Amazon River Basin initiative will focus on priority actions agreed in the first basin-wide regional strategy oriented to strengthen Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), reinforce the Amazon communities’ ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change, and ensure basin-wide compatible information for coordinated decision-making. The 4-year initiative is supported by a GEF grant of US$ 11.7 million with over US$ 140 million of in-kind contribution from the basin countries.
The largest tropical forest and the greatest freshwater system in the world meet in the Amazon. Covering more than 6 million km2, extremely rich in biodiversity, and discharging 15-20% of the global freshwater into the ocean, the Amazon is an essential element of the regional and global environment, hydrological cycle, and climate, providing fundamental ecological support for human activities and the well-being of its more than 40 million inhabitants.
The eight Amazon countries signed the Amazon Cooperation Treaty (1978) to facilitate political dialogue and regional cooperation and subsequently created the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). Today, the Amazon basin faces numerous challenges in achieving integrated and sustainable management and protection of its precious water resources in a context of socio-economic development, anthropogenic pressure and climate change impact.
“Water resources are strategic for the balanced and sustainable development of the peoples of the Amazon.” said Alexandra Moreira, Secretary General of ACTO. “This is an historic opportunity to jointly address common challenges and advance our shared vision for the Amazon. The permanent basin-wide Coordination Mechanism to be established under the present initiative is a cornerstone in the regional framework of action for water management in the basin.”
“Ensuring water security, improving ecosystem status and livelihoods, and contributing to meet relevant SDG targets in the Amazon basin are among the expected outcomes of the project.” explained UN Environment Programme Task Manager Isabelle Van der Beck. “The initiative will support countries in advancing ecosystems management at the transboundary level”.
The project will move forward previous agreements of the Amazon countries resulting in a common vision and strategy for IWRM contained in the Strategic Action Program-SAP. In this context, the project will support the countries to strengthen national capacity and regional governance for IWRM, enhance adaptation to climate change, and ensure solid regional data to improve decision-making and coordination from the Amazon river sources in the Andes to the river delta in the Atlantic, for healthier Amazon ecosystem. Information sharing mechanisms and basin-wide data exchange, as well as coordinated cultural agendas will connect basin stakeholders, provide regional information and advance water and environmental issues at the national and transboundary level.
Under the umbrella of this initiative, 13 national projects will be carried out focusing on strengthening the capacity of local governments and communities to respond to extreme hydroclimatic events and the impacts of climate change. Early warning systems and solutions in vulnerable Amazon sub-basins in Peru and Venezuela, nature-based coastal zone and headwaters protection solutions in Suriname and Ecuador, alternatives for water supply in Bolivian urban centers facing retreating glaciers, improved water security of urban population in Brazil and Colombia through groundwater source protection will bring benefits to more than 7.8 million people in the Amazon.
As comprehensive and reliable information is essential for policy formulation, decision-making and management actions for integrated water management, the initiative will also implement integrated environmental monitoring and a regional information platform on water resources. Data and information on water quality, hydro-meteorology, sedimentation transport, aquatic ecosystems and environmental status will become available to policy-makers and water managers through compatible basin-wide monitoring systems.
The Strategic Action Program (SAP)
In 2017, the eight countries that share common challenges with water and climate change in the Amazon adopted a regional strategy for IWRM in the Amazon Basin. Based on a comprehensive Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis and reflecting a shared Vision among the ACTO Member Countries, the SAP defines strategies and priorities for regional action along three strategic response lines: Strengthening IWRM; Institutional adaptation to climate change and variability; and Knowledge management. The 20-year Program was developed in partnership with ACTO and UN Environment Programme, with financial support from the GEF, and is being implemented through ACTO.
For more information, please contact:
Amb. Carlos Alfredo Lazary Teixeira, ACTO Executive Director, carlos.lazary@otca.org
Isabelle Van der Beck, UN Environment Task Manager, isabelle.vanderbeck@un.org
