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With the presence of leaders, members of the Rural Drinking Water Committees (APRs), national and international authorities and experts, workshops and seminars on watershed management were held in the river region.
Iván Gallardo and Enrique Cruz, FORECOS.- Within the framework of the project “Cuenca sana = Agua Segura” the week of the Basins, forests and Water in the region of the rivers was celebrated. This project is an initiative carried out by the Fundación Centro de los Bosques Nativos FORECOS with the support of the rural drinking water committees of Mashue, Liquiñe, and the Corporation of Rural Drinking Water Committees of the Los Ríos Region.
The main objective of the project is to promote the safety of drinking water in rural areas through training and exchange of knowledge among CAPRs in management and integrated management of watersheds as adaptation to climate change.
For this reason, between March 4 and 10, 2023, in the Los Ríos region, a series of workshops were held in different sectors of the Los Ríos region, with the participation of international experts, such as Dr. Julia Jones, professor at Oregon State University, specialist in watersheds, forests, and water, and Dr. Fred Swanson, retired researcher at the United States National Forest Service, geologist specializing in ecosystem change dynamics, and promoter of conservation projects. art and literature in forests. In addition to national national experts such as Dr. Antonio Lara, a researcher at the Universidad Austral de Chile, the Center for Climate Science and Resilience and part of the FORECOS Foundation team, an expert in Climate Change and ecosystem services of native forests.
The activities of the first week of project implementation focused on the CAPRs, beginning with Mashue named “Challenges, experiences and learning in watershed management”. The objective of this workshop was to share the experiences gathered by the APR of Mashue throughout their training as CAPR, to learn about their experiences and the future challenges that lie ahead and those shared by other CAPR. The day included the words of leaders such as Fernando Muñoz and José Luis Buitano, as well as a tour of the nursery, interpretive trail and basin renaturation experiences. The Mashue conference allowed attendees to understand the importance of a united board of directors with the participation of the local community, the need to promote their own projects for the renaturation of watersheds and promote dialogue with the authorities. In addition to understanding that the promotion of adaptation capacities to climate change start from the local communities and cannot wait for public policy. There were also talks by Antonio Lara on the lessons learned in the Innovacuencas project with the APRs 10 years ago, Julia Jones on the relationship between forests and water and the importance of long-term monitoring and the reflections of Fred Swanson and the importance of local communities to lead change processes. The activity brought together committees from the commune of La Unión and Río Bueno, among them committee leaders, leaders of community unions, a representative of Senator Gatica and Enrique Larre of the Regional Council of the rivers region.
In Liquiñe, the focus of the activities focused on environmental education, the application of art in nature and the influence of different factors on the quantity and quality of water in watercourses. The workshop called “Experiences in environmental education for the mitigation of climate change” He showed the work carried out by the Liquiñe CAPR on the subject of environmental education to the youngest of his community, these being the key actors in the future of the territory. Talk that was given by Veronica Rojas, facilitator in Environmental Education of the APR of Liquiñe. It also featured talks by Julia Jones and Fred Swanson on forests, water and climate change, and the importance of incorporating the arts and other disciplines to increase environmental awareness respectively. The place was attended by personnel from the municipality of Panguipulli, guardians of the children and environmental groups from the area, where in addition to the talks we had the opportunity to tour the APR offices, its water supply basin and a space for discussion and reflection.
The third workshop entitled “Integrated management of watersheds and restoration of native forest for water production” It was held in the CAPR room of Champel, with the main objective of exchanging experiences between how the committee manages water and the contrast with the management in the state of Oregon, knowing the state of the Champel catchment system and the threats to the provision of water in the rural territory. In addition, the case of APRs that obtain their water from deep wells was analyzed, which poses new challenges for monitoring and basin management. In this workshop, concern was expressed about how the state agencies that have interference in the provision of rural water maintain few technical considerations and the lack of communication between public services that directly affects the quality of life of the inhabitants of the sector. Alejandra Bartsch, regional director of INDAP and advisers to Senator Gatica and Deputy Ilabaca from the region were present, showing the transversal interest in the need for water raised by the people of the CAPR.
In the Valdivian Coastal Reserve owned by The Nature Conservancy, the fourth and last workshop of the project launch week was held. In the administrative units of the reserve, the work that is carried out both at the level of conservation and the link with the environment through the transfer of rights to use water, among other agreements between the reserve and the surrounding communities, became known. The activity titled “Importance of restoration in water production, the case of the Valdivian Coastal Reserve”in which a 14-year investigation focused on the restoration of basins dominated by eucalyptus, replacing the vegetation cover with native forest. Research led by Antonio Lara from UACH, the Center for Climate Science and Resilience (CR2) and FORECOS, with the support of Nicolas Vergara from CR2, Julia Jones from Oregon State University and Christian Little, current executive director of CONAF. This allowed learning about the effect of restoration on flows, showing the feasibility of water production under revegetation conditions with native species.
The week of the basin, forests and water ended with the seminar “Integrated management of basins, actions for adaptation to climate change and water supply” Made in Valdivia. The day began with the vision of the communities with the participation of Marcelo el Obregon, representative of the Corporation of Rural Drinking Water Committees of the Los Ríos Region, communicating to all those present the urgency of advancing in the protection of their water catchments through watershed management at the CAPR level based on solutions such as watershed restoration and environmental education and the necessary support from public services. Next, José Luis Buitano, representative of the Mashue CAPR, addressed the challenges of organizational growth and actions that they have taken as a community to face what they consider to be a climate emergency.
Then it was the turn of the challenges in terms of public policy, which was addressed by the National Director of CONAF, Dr. Christian Little, who addressed the importance of coordination between the different services, new legal initiatives such as the Forest Service and the of Biodiversity in addition to
The second part of the seminar consisted of the presentation of the reality of the state of Oregon, how watershed management is carried out and the growing legislation around the protection of surface and groundwater, forest management that is carried out, the implication of the practices in the basins.
The seminar was attended by leaders of different CAPR, Senator Alfonso De Urresti, the National Director of CONAF, Christian Little, Patricio Barria, Regional Agriculture Seremi, Carlos Johnson, regional director of SERNAGEOMIN, Arnoldo Schibar, regional director of CONAF , Alberto Tacón, Seremi del Medio Ambiente, Matías Fernández del CORE, municipal personnel, and SEREMI teams for science and technology, agriculture and the environment, and the presence of different local community and NGOs associated with environmental management.
We thank all the APR’s and institutions that opened the doors of their locations to us to carry out these activities and learn from their experiences and to specialists Julia Jones, Fred Swanson and Antonio Lara. This project is carried out with financing from the United States Embassy in Chile and its climate action fund.
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