The water security is increasingly complex and urgent due to population growth in recent decades, concentration in cities, degradation of water quality, changes in land use, and the increasing impact of floods, droughts and other related hydrological effects with climate change. Situations that need to be identified viable answers to find sustainable solutions in the future.
On Latin America and the Caribbean Great advances were seen in recent decades in terms of access to water. However, Unesco points out that there are areas that need urgent attention. Water resources are under significant pressure due to the climate change, demographic progress and the type of land use, which affect the availability and quality of the resource.
The main objective of the current eighth phase of the Intergovernmental Hydrological Program (IHP) is to put into practice the science necessary for water security
-In the region there is the great objective of achieving water security, that is, the ability to have access to water, and to effectively protect life, ecosystems and material goods, in the context of the UN 2030 Agenda The Intergovernmental Hydrological Program ( PHI), the program of the UNESCO that contributes to research, education and capacity building related to water management. From the UNESCO Regional Office of Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the IHP LAC implements regional and local actions, in dialogue with the countries of the region.
According World Bank data, in Latin America and the Caribbean is concentrated almost a third of the fresh water on the planet despite having only 18% of the total population. In addition, according to this same source, it is the area of the world that has the largest number of countries with a quantity of internal renewable freshwater resources greater than 40,000 cubic meters, with up to seven countries at the top of the ranking: Guyana, Suriname, Peru, Chile, Colombia, Belize and Brazil. In fact, the latter country, the largest in Latin America, is also the one with the largest freshwater reserves in the world, with a total of about 8,233 cubic kilometers (km3).
It is calculated that about 50% of the water available in the region is concentrated in the Amazon basin, a situation that they know very well in Colombia and Peru, where much of their aquatic wealth also comes from the Amazon system, which allows both countries to have a reserve of almost 46,000 cubic meters and 52,000 cubic meters per person, respectively.
In the case of Chile, However, most of its water reserve is in its southern zone, where the large amount of rainfall, the many lakes, lagoons and rivers and, above all, one of the largest glacier systems in the world, allow the Andean country to have a total of 47,914 cubic meters of water per capita.
This availability of water hides important territorial imbalances. Countries such as Argentina or Mexico have presented episodes of high shortages in their large cities and, paradoxically, large reservoirs such as Brazil, Chile or Peru. they have also suffered from water stress problems in some of their cities.
Latin America is one of the most vulnerable to climate change and its waters are in the first line of fire.
According to a study by the World Resources Institute, it is expected that by 2040 Peru and Chile are part of the group of 33 countries that will face severe water stress, along with the US, South Africa, Australia, India and regions such as the Middle East or the north coast of Africa. But rising temperatures will also mean that several cities in the region will have major water supply problems, especially in the dry seasons but also in the rainy season when floodwaters and floods affect the quality of the available liquid. And there is also consequences on biodiversity, as evidenced by the fact that the Latin American region is the one that has experienced the greatest reduction in its natural wetlands worldwide in the last 50 years, with a decline of 59% of its surface.
Despite the advances in recent years in Latin America in terms of access to drinking water and sanitation, the region faces important challenges that will be addressed during the XIV Meeting of National Committees and Focal Points of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Program for Latin America and the Caribbean (IHP-LAC), which will bring together governments, authorities and experts from Latin America and the Caribbean this week to discuss progress and pending issues in water management in the region.
At the meeting, under the umbrella of Unesco, water security will be analyzed from the perspective of water-related disasters and hydrological changes; groundwater in a changing environment; address water scarcity and quality; water and human settlements of the future; ecohydrology, engineering harmony for a sustainable world; and water education, key to water security.
By putting methods and innovative, multidisciplinary and environmentally friendly toolsWhile fostering and capitalizing on advances in water science, IHP acts at the science-policy nexus to help address today’s global water challenges.
The Intergovernmental Hydrological Program (IHP) is the only intergovernmental program of the United Nations system dedicated to the research and water management, and related education and capacity building. The IHP began in 1975 as an internationally coordinated hydrological research program.
Since then, it has evolved to facilitate a interdisciplinary and integrated approach to watershed and aquifer management, incorporating the social dimension of water, and supports international cooperation in hydrological and freshwater sciences and interfaces with policy makers, and strengthens institutional and individual capacities.
The Intergovernmental Hydrological Program encourages and encourages hydrological research and assists Member States in research and training activities
–
