ECLAC participates in the XIV Meeting of National Committees and Focal Points of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Program for Latin America and the Caribbean (IHP-LAC)

The UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Program for Latin America and the Caribbean (IHP-LAC) organized the event that took place virtually from April 26 to 29, 2021. This instance convened the Presidents of the National Committees and Focal Points of the PHI-LAC, with the objective to evaluate the results achieved since the last meeting and planning future activities.

Silvia Saravia Matus, Economic Affairs Officer of the Natural Resources Division of ECLAC, participated in the session on cooperation with other United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations; which took place on April 28. During her intervention, Ms. Saravia Matus presented the lines of work that ECLAC has in the region, as well as the opportunities for cooperation and joint work that exist with UNESCO. Regarding the first point, three lines of work were presented that together represent a transformative proposal to face the multiple water challenges of the region, through a sustainable water transition.

- Analysis and recommendations to promote regulatory and tariff frameworks in the drinking water and sanitation sector. In addition, management models that allows mobilizing both public and private investment to achieve the goals of safe management as set by SDG 6 for this sector. All this pursues the universalization of the human right to water and sanitation with solutions that are adapted to the particular situation of each country.

- Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) considering not only the changing hydrometeorological pressures but also the multiple conflicts that arise between different users.

- Promote principles of circularity and also survey the options offered by so-called Nature-based Solutions, both at the level of the drinking water and sanitation sector and in the productive uses of water.

In relation to the joint work that exists with UNESCO, in particular with the IHP-LAC, work is being done to make visible several of the commitments that are included in the International Decade of Action for Water 2018-2028, and co-organize an event during the next Sustainable Development Forum in the region. This will be a high-level event that will make it possible to synthesize both progress and challenges, collecting the great diversity of priority issues that exist between the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico subregions, as well as in South America. Recently, ECLAC and IHP-LAC UNESCO successfully organized the "Water Dialogues in Latin America", an event that registered more than 3000 participants from different social, economic, and environmental sectors of the region to exchange on how to accelerate the fulfillment of SDG 6.

Also, taking note of the great scientific capacity of the IHP-LAC, this year is being prepared jointly and collaboratively the regional contribution to the next World Water Resources Report 2022, which focuses on groundwater.