Water is one of the most important natural resources for our planet. It has a fundamental role for life in all its forms, and crises related to water scarcity and water quality are issues that affects us all. Therefore, we must take concrete actions to promote research around these problems to create the knowledge and skills necessary to anticipate the challenges and promote real transformations.

The SARAS Institute, with financing from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), is launching the project: “Transforming water governance in South America: from reaction to adaptation and anticipation.”

The project was selected by the IAI under the 2018 Co-funded Small Grant Program “The role of ecosystem services in adaptation to global change for human well-being” (SGP-HW).

This two-year project will begin in June 2019 and will use a transdisciplinary research approach. The main objective is to strengthen the capacities for adaptation, anticipation and co-creation of knowledge, to contribute to an adaptive and anticipatory water governance, as well as to set an experimental precedent operating as a collective intelligence system that reports on good practices of local, national and regional policies.

The initial phase of the project will focus on systematizing knowledge about water governance for six basins located in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, as well as analyzing previous water crises as window of opportunity for transformations in management.

The project will be a collaboration of researchers from institutions in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Germany, France, Chile, Ecuador and the United States. The main researchers are Micaela Trimble (SARAS Institute), Pedro Jacobi (Institute of Energy and Environment, University of São Paulo, IEE / USP, Brazil, member of SARAS Advisory Board), Esteban Jobbágy (National University of San Luis, CONICET, Argentina, member of SARAS Advisory Board), and Miguel Pascual (Patagonian Institute for the Study of Continental Ecosystems-CONICET, Argentina).

The project will result in a protocol or guide for anticipatory governance, so that the generated knowledge can be useful for other watersheds of the continent and the world.

The project has the support of strategic partners such as: Global Water Partnership (GWP) South America, International Hydrological Program (PHI-UNESCO), National Secretariat of Environment, Water and Climate Change (SNAACC, Uruguay), National Environment Directorate (DINAMA- MVOTMA, Uruguay), National Water Directorate (DINAGUA-MVOTMA, Uruguay), ICLEI South America – Local Governments for Sustainability, National Directorate of Environmental Management of Water and Aquatic Ecosystems (Argentina), Provincial Water Institute of the Province of Chubut (Argentina), Ministry of Environment and Control of Sustainable Development (Chubut, Argentina), Ministry of Environment, Field and Production (San Luis, Argentina), AGEVAP Agency (Paraíba do Sul Basin Committee, Brazil) and the Agencia das Bacias PCJ (Brazil).

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GovernAgua project launch: july 26th, SARAS Institute

To learn more about the project, click here (Spanish only).