Participation of ECLAC in the Conference of Ibero-American Water Directors V InterCODIA

On July 27, 28 and 29, 2022, in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), the V InterCODIA meeting took place, organized by the Spanish Agency for Cooperation and the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Program, in order to address issues of related to water management in the Ibero-American region, and in particular highlighting the role of water in the post-COVID era.

This meeting was held in a hybrid face-to-face/virtual format, and was attended by various representatives of countries, agencies of the United Nations System, international cooperation, development banks, among other international institutions linked to water management in the region. The event was structured in two main segments. The first segment, on July 27, took place the High-Level Seminar “Water and post-COVID recovery”, in which its members reflected jointly on the situation of the water sector after the pandemic, with special emphasis in the Recovery Plans carried out by the countries and the lessons learned that have resulted from this process. The second segment, on the 28th and 29th, the V InterCODIA meeting was held to advance the CODIA Work Program.

Dr. Silvia Saravia Matus, from the Natural Resources Division of ECLAC, participated in Session 1 of the high-level seminar, entitled Recovery Plans and sustainable investments in the Post-COVID era. Her presentation was “Water as a Vector of Development: Towards a Sustainable and Inclusive Water Transition and Proposal for Transformative Recovery in LAC”.

Saravia Matus began her presentation by exposing the relevant role of water resources as a human right, an equalizing element in society, central to climate resilience and an irreplaceable productive input. Similarly, he reviewed the current context of the region, which is characterized by scenarios of high scarcity and water stress, especially in large cities and areas of greater economic activity. Therefore, ECLAC proposes a transition in regional water management that is sustainable, efficient and inclusive, and that is based on the following four pillars: ¡) guarantee the human right to drinking water and sanitation managed safely through the imposed investment in the sector, leaving no one behind; ii) promote regulatory and normative changes to promote equitable and affordable access and thus eradicate water poverty; iii) reverse the growing negative externalities associated with pollution, overexploitation and socio-environmental conflicts; derived in part from insufficient regulation and control; and iv) move from linear management to circular management to reduce pressure on water resources, establishing a trend towards decoupling between extraction and GDP.

ECLAC considers that one of the main challenges is to generate evidence on the reasons why investments should be made in the drinking water and sanitation sector, and on how these investments should be made, considering the economic, social and environmental spheres. For this reason, it has made some estimates that indicate that investing 1.3% of GDP annually until 2030 would make it possible to universalize access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation, which could generate up to 3.4 million direct jobs each year. Similarly, another of his studies has estimated that investing in circular water treatment systems and recovering methane for energy generation and self-consumption has a positive cost-benefit ratio, since it reduces plant operating costs by approximately 40% and decreases methane emissions by 86%, with a positive equivalent cost-benefit ratio per person of 1.34 USD.

To conclude, he briefly shared some of the preparatory activities that ECLAC is promoting in the framework of the upcoming 2023 Water Conference, such as the formation of a regional group of experts on water resources, the 2022 Water Dialogues event, as well as public consultation to establish regional priorities for water resources in the region.