Session 1 “Water, Agriculture, and Ecosystems” – Regional Water Dialogues for Latin America and the Caribbean 2024

The 2024 Regional Water Dialogues: Enhancing Water Resource Management for Sustainable Development

Introduction

The first session of the 2024 Regional Water Dialogues, titled “Water, Agriculture, and Ecosystems,” aimed to enhance the capabilities and conditions of countries to perform orderly, sustainable, competitive, and inclusive water resource management, aligned with the agricultural and ecosystemic challenges of the region. High-level and technical panels brought together senior authorities from the LAC countries and experts representing the public sector, international organizations, development banks, academia, and the private sector to discuss various strategies and solutions for water resource management.

Keynote Speech

The session began with a keynote speech by Mr. Manuel Otero, General Director of IICA, who highlighted the Hemispheric Water and Agriculture Initiative launched in October 2023. This initiative seeks to have the agricultural sector contribute to addressing the regional water crisis, considering water’s fundamental role in agriculture and, consequently, food security. He noted that the initiative has four main lines of work focused on:

1. Water production and storage
2. Improving water use efficiency
3. Strengthening mechanisms, tools, and capacities associated with water governance for agriculture
4. Improving the planning, allocation, and public-private articulation of pre-investment and investment resources in countries for agriculture

He also acknowledged ECLAC for its cooperation efforts.

High-Level Panel

• Mr. Víctor Carvajal Porras, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica, talked about the water crisis and agriculture as a key actor in its solution, highlighting projects like “Water for the Bajura” and the importance of rewarding forest preservation through environmental service payments and access to financing.

• Ms. Laura Suazo, Secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, shared experiences of extension services in municipalities of the dry corridor mainly focused on water storage and harvesting. She also highlighted the importance of intersectoral collaboration for climate change adaptation, where they work in agroclimatic tables with various sectors. She also mentioned the national irrigation master plan they are working on for the next 20 years.

• Ms. Renata Bueno Miranda, Secretary of Innovation, Sustainable Development, Irrigation, and Cooperativism of Brazil, highlighted Brazil’s adaptation history and the role of science in agricultural transformation, mentioned the low-carbon agriculture Plan ABC and emphasized the need to accelerate the technological transition in the sector. She also noted the use of cropping techniques to improve the hydrological cycle, such as the direct application of organic matter.

• Ms. Rossana Polastri, Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean of IFAD, highlighted IFAD’s mandate on integral water resource management, which largely focuses on rural poverty. She highlighted two examples of projects that lead and allocate financing especially to small-scale producers in Brazil and the dry corridor to improve access to water resources.

• Mr. Nick Kenner Estrada Orozco, Deputy Minister of Rural Economic Development of Guatemala, presented the challenges and strategies of Guatemala on the topic of irrigation and the importance of cooperation for the implementation of infrastructure. Another barrier he mentioned is governance, indicating the need to strengthen local governance and resort to agrarian agreements to reduce conflict.

• Mr. Mario Lubetkin, Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean of FAO, emphasized the importance of IWRM and efficiency for sustainable agriculture. He also reaffirmed his commitment to work with the region’s countries to put water as a central element of change, and support them to improve management capacity, information, and analysis. Thus, his motto emerged: “Water not to damage the soils, and soils not to damage the water”.

• Mr. Franz Rojas, Director of Water and Sanitation at CAF, pointed out that efficient water management for agriculture is required, along with policies to support this process. He also explained that different solutions are needed for family and extensive irrigation types, in which CAF is actively working through various projects. He emphasized that to operationalize financing for sustainable irrigation, it is necessary to position the topic on public agendas, increase funds allocated to this purpose, create pre-investment designs, strengthen governance, and also consider social aspects.

Technical Panel

• Mr. José Miguel Zeledón, National Water Director of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), Costa Rica, discussed the challenges of achieving SDG 6 in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting the lack of coordination and financial gaps as major obstacles. He advocated for management models that reinvest resources in source basins and promote effective local management.

• Ms. Monica Rodrigues, Economic Affairs Officer of the Agricultural Development Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), emphasized the need to increase food production sustainably, noting the low efficiency in the use of water resources in the region. She highlighted the importance of digitalization and the agroecological transition to improve water and land productivity.

• Ms. Tania Ammour, Advisor to the Regional Directorate of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), stressed the dual climate and biodiversity crisis, underscoring the need to consider agriculture within interconnected landscapes for ecological conservation and restoration. She proposed a basin-level planning approach that integrates land and water use.

• Mr. Héctor Manuel Árias, Director of Sustainability and Strengthening of the National Commission of Arid Zones (CONAZA), Mexico, discussed the challenges of water governance and drought attention, proposing improvements in user participation, conflict management, and the collection of financial resources for more effective water management.

• Mr. Christopher Neale, Director of the Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska, highlighted the importance of water storage and the development of technologies to monitor and optimize water use in agriculture. He advocated for a shift towards agricultural practices that maximize value and sustainability rather than just yield.

• Ms. Alba Llavona, Water Resources Specialist at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), promoted the dissemination of the advantages of implementing Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) as key to improving water and food security, emphasizing wetland conservation and forest restoration to increase water retention in the soil. She also mentioned that ECLAC will soon publish a document detailing this topic.

Conclusion

The Technical Panel illustrated a consensus on the urgency of addressing water management comprehensively, considering both agricultural needs and ecosystem preservation. Experts agreed on the need to adopt innovative technologies, sustainable practices, and cross

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

SDGs Addressed or Connected to the Issues Highlighted in the Article:

1. SDG 2: Zero Hunger
2. SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
3. SDG 13: Climate Action
4. SDG 15: Life on Land
5. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Specific Targets Based on the Article’s Content:

• SDG 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding, and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
• SDG 6.4: By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.
• SDG 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
• SDG 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains, and drylands, in line with obligations under international agreements.
• SDG 17.6: Enhance North-South, South-South, and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology, and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism.

Indicators Mentioned or Implied in the Article:

• Indicator 2.4.1: Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture
• Indicator 6.4.1: Change in water-use efficiency over time
• Indicator 13.1.1: Number of deaths, missing persons, and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
• Indicator 15.1.1: Forest area as a proportion of total land area
• Indicator 17.6.1: Number of science and/or technology cooperation agreements and programmes between countries

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: cepal.org

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