GEF-IW-LAC PROJECT MANAGERS’ FORUM

REPORT TO THE FOURTH INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE ON WATER MANAGEMENT

FOZ DO IGUACU, BRASIL

6 IX 2001

CHAIRMAN: Pablo Suarez

RAPPORTEUR: Jeffrey A. Thornton

PANELISTS: Pablo Gonzalez, Javier Lopez Medina, Dann Sklarew, Isabelle van der Beck

BACKGROUND

Thirty project managers from nine International Waters Projects, being conducted with incremental funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF-IW) in Latin America and Caribbean (LAC), exchanged information, experiences, and lessons learned prior to and during the Fourth Inter-American Dialogue on Water Management. This process was designed to construct relationships, exchange information, identify appropriate mechanisms to manage and share this information, and determine a means of continuing this process of information sharing and dissemination.

STATEMENT OF ISSUES

• The GEF-IW program has developed a considerable volume of information, experience and knowledge within the LAC region which has not been adequately disseminated or included in development processes;

• The time is ripe for the development of mechanisms to share this information, experience, and knowledge;

• There is a need for a mechanism to disseminate information, experiences and knowledge in order to influence policy and process to achieve the integrated management of water resources within a context of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable development.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS AND LESSONS LEARNED

The GEF-IW program is the primary vehicle for developing the information, experience and knowledge necessary for formulating and implementing sustainable water resources management and development within the LAC region. This primacy was recognized:

By integrating the information, experience and knowledge of the GEF-IW LAC program with the Inter-American Water Resources Network (IWRN), this information, experience and knowledge can reach a broader community of decision-makers and policy-makers throughout the LAC region;

• Access to such information, experience and knowledge will enable this community to translate best practices into policy and legal and institutional frameworks across the spectrum of local water resources and transboundary basins;

• Synergies with IW-LEARN can provide this information, experience and knowledge, already in place, to GEF-IW projects likely to be developed or implemented within the LAC region or replicated at the global scale.