Academic U. de Chile is part of the new UNESCO chair on Sustainability of Mountain Water

The University of Calgary, Canada, will be the host of this international program co-directed by six researchers and specialist researchers in the area. One of them is the academic of the Department of Civil Engineering of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Mathematics of the University of Chile, James McPhee. The initiative will seek to improve the way in which the impact of climate change on water sources is projected, develop new mitigation measures and increase the resilience of communities that depend on mountain waters.

Communications UdeChile/University of Calgary.- He critical scenario currently facing mountain ecosystems due to climate change was the reason that motivated the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to focus its new chair «Mountain Water Sustainability». The program is based at the University of Calgary, Canada, a city that depends heavily on water sources located in the high mountains, like Santiago de Chile.

To develop this chair, they were chosen to six world-class subject matter experts: john pomeroy (co-director and holder of the main chair) and Corinne Schuster-Wallace, from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada; Frederick Wrona (co-director) and Kerry Blackfrom the University of Calgary, Canada; James McPhee Torres, from the University of Chile; and Dhiraj Pradhanangafrom Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

“My participation stems from a collaborative relationship that has already been going on for 10 years with the University of Saskatchewan.and that has allowed many instances of student exchange, training of researchers, scientific publications and creation of research networks, such as -for example- INARCH. Now it expands to the Universities of Calgary and Tribhuvan, which gives even more power to this work focused on the mountainous areas of the world”, points out the academic from the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Chile.

The co-directors will work collectively to improve the way the impact of climate warming is projected on water sources, develop new climate change mitigation measures, and increase the resilience of communities that depend on mountain waters.. To do this, they will use a holistic approach to address the complex and interconnected environmental, economic and social problems of mountain systems.

“I hope that from this chair we can further intensify the exchange of experiences and, through the visibility that the chair gives, attract more and better talent to train in water resources issues. Complementarily, the chair has a strong emphasis on working with communities and native peoples for the co-creation of solutionswhich seems new to me and very much in line with the objectives of the Indigenous Peoples Program of our Faculty”, explains the also researcher of the Advanced Center for Water Technologies, CAPTA.

The international training program will unite geographical regions, disciplines, research methods and different perspectives to better understand changing water resources in high mountain regions and develop solutions for sustainable water management. In this way, each academic will bring a different research approach from their geographical region to the chair, making it a diverse and transdisciplinary initiative with integrated opportunities for international impact.

«From the FCFM, we have been creating knowledge about mountain hydrological systems, and improving our ability to predict their behavior through mathematical models. Taking advantage of the context of this chair, we can articulate other initiatives, such as the Indigenous Peoples program, the ENEAS initiative and others, in order to promote a multidisciplinary approach to tackling concrete problems in the management of water resources. We hope to convene various researchers and students from the University to get involved in this matter”, adds Professor McPhee.

UNESCO Chairs

The UNESCO Chairs are an initiative of the United Nations Organization whose objective is to advance and improve the development of research, training and development programs in higher education, through the construction of university networks, the promotion of inter-university cooperation , and the transfer of knowledge.