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Regional actions promoting IWRM and climate change adaptation commence in the Amazon

GEF-UNEP-ACTO GEF Amazon Basin SAP Implementation Project

By IW:LEARN

December 23^rd, 2020

The Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is pleased to announce the start of activities of the Amazon Strategic Action Program (SAP) Implementation Project, a 4-year initiative supported by a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant of US$ 11.7 million, with over US$ 140 million in-kind contribution from the basin countries. The Amazon SAP, which is 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, will be the focus of the project. The Amazon SAP was endorsed in 2017 by eight countries sharing the Amazon basin – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

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. This is a 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.”

— Alexandra Moreira, Secretary General of ACTO

The project will put forward previous agreements of the Amazon countries resulting in a common vision and strategy for IWRM contained in the SAP. In this context, the project will support the countries in strengthening national capacity and regional governance for IWRM, enhancing adaptation to climate change, and ensuring 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 a 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.

A local resident affected by sea level rise in Marajo Island, GEF Amazon Project.

“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. The initiative will support countries in advancing ecosystems management at the transboundary level.”

— Isabelle Van der Beck, UNEP Task Manager

Strengthening governance at the national and regional level is essential for better managing shared water resources, improving human well-being and ecosystem health. The implementation of a basin-wide institutional and policy framework in the Amazon Basin will provide an enabling and catalytic political, institutional and social environment for SAP implementation by supporting crucial baseline issues such as the establishment of common standards and monitoring protocols, information sharing mechanisms, coordinated cultural agendas, and a strengthened regional cooperation and coordination mechanisms for IWRM and SAP implementation. As part of this process, at the national level, the Project will support the establishment of national Water Authorities in Guyana and Suriname and capacity building in all riparian countries, along with specific interventions in four countries oriented to developing capacities to design and implement incentive-based water financing mechanisms.

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, among other interventions, 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 water resources and 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 covering an area of 600 million ha.

Hydrometeorological Monitoring Station - ANA Brazil, GEF Amazon Project.

For more information on the GEF-UNEP/ACTO Amazon Project, please contact the ACTO Executive Director, Amb. Carlos Alfredo Lazary Teixeira (carlos.lazary@otca.org) or the UNEP Task Manager, Isabelle Van der Beck (isabelle.vanderbeck@un.org), and visit the project website and the project page on iwlearn.net.