Government of Santiago: OFFICIALLY PRESENTS THE GROUP THAT WILL DESIGN THE MAIPO RIVER BASIN COUNCIL

• The Promotion Group will have representatives from different sectors related to the direct and indirect uses of water in the hydrographic basin (public sector, private sector and civil society -including academia-) who will coordinate in pursuit of water security.
• The Basin Council will allow planning and coordinating actions regarding the management of water resources in a sustainable and decentralized manner.

Andrea Riquelme, Journalist.- The Government of Santiago officially presented the Promotion Group of the Maipo River Basin Council, which aims to establish a formal governance space for coordination and participation in pursuit of the basin’s water sustainability. Different sectors related to the direct and indirect uses of water in the hydrographic basin are represented in this Group (public sector, private sector and civil society -including academia-).

Basin Councils are entities that are in charge of implementing actions related to the management of interventions on water resources and work in addition to user organizations as well as national, regional and local authorities, among other actors in the basin. Chile is the only OECD country that does not have organizations of this nature.

The initiative is led by the Metropolitan Government of Santiago with the technical support of Fundación Chile’s Water Scenarios 2030, seeks to impact sustainable territorial development and is aligned with the purpose of advancing towards the just water transition promoted by the current Government.

The activity open to the public was attended by the Governor of Santiago, Claudio Orrego; the Executive President of Fundación Chile, Pablo Zamora; the General Manager, Hernán Araneda, and the organizations that will make up the Promoter Group, among others.

The Metropolitan Governor of Santiago, Claudio Orrego, made a call to raise this issue again with the utmost urgency: “Santiago is drying up. We are in a historical moment where, very specifically, the demand for water far exceeds the supply. We have been in a drought for 14 years and this is a structural problem that will not be overcome with a little more rain. The Maipo River ranks ninth among the rivers with the highest water stress in the world,” he stated.

“To face these challenges -added Orrego- it is necessary that we agree, in adopting all the necessary measures and actions. For this reason, as a Regional Government, we are leading different initiatives for a sustainable use of water, such as this: A participatory mechanism for decision-making regarding Water Security in the Maipo Basin. But, in addition, we are advancing in water solutions, local water strategies, efficient gardens, sustainability criteria, that is, while we are advancing in a new institutionality, we are also advancing with solutions”, he asserted.

The executive president of Fundación Chile, Pablo Zamora, for his part, pointed out that “from FCh we are promoting innovative mechanisms that allow us to face the structural challenges in water matters. We seek to innovate through radical collaboration for the sustainable development of the country. In this sense, basin organizations are entities that have been created in the world to face the challenges of climate change and water security. We are at an important moment to co-create a formal decentralized coordination and planning space that has the participation of all the key actors and that allows us to make a sustainable use of water, for people, production and ecosystems”, he stated. .

The Water Governance Leader of Fundación Chile, Paul Dourojeanni, highlighted that “this is a transitory working group that will have an instrumental role in the construction of a proposal that will allow the implementation of the Basin Council. The Promotion Group is not and will not be the Cuenca Council and its purpose is not to solve contingency issues, but its task is the collaborative design of an organization that has the capabilities to resolve them in the future”.

The activity included a panel discussion called “Water Governance”: How a Basin Council could improve water management in the Maipo River” which was moderated by Mauricio Fabry, Coordinator of the Environment, Biodiversity and Climate Action of the Government of Santiago and with the participation of Pilar Barría, Water and Governance Advisor of the Ministry of the Environment; Luis Baertl, President of the Maipo River Surveillance Board, First Section; Diego Urrejola, Executive Director of the Cosmos Foundation and Cecilia González, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Association of Rural Drinking Water.

Who make up the Promoter Group