After the successful national workshops in Bolivia and Colombia, Peru is preparing to host the National Workshop of the Strategic Actions Program (SAP), a joint event organized by the National Water Authority (ANA) of Peru and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO). This important meeting will take place on September 26 and 27 in the city of Lima.

The Implementation Workshop of the PAE aims to promote strategic actions to strengthen the capacity for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) at the national level and to reinforce the resilience of local communities in the face of climate change challenges. Additionally, it seeks to ensure the availability of consistent information across the Amazon Basin to support decision-making in the realm of regional cooperation.

The event in Lima will bring together government representatives from both the national and departmental levels, from the areas of water management, culture, and education, with the aim of formulating recommendations for the implementation process of the SAP. Opportunities for regional cooperation will also be identified, and contributions will be made towards the formulation of a National Action Plan (NAP).

The NAP will be a document aligned with national policies and will cover various actions within the framework of the SAP implementation. These include institutional strengthening for IWRM, an IWRM Training Program, monitoring of the basin’s water resources, as well as a focus on cultural aspects related to water and climate change adaptation measures in the Amazon Basin.

It is noteworthy that gender equality will be a cross-cutting element in all actions of the SAP and the NAP. During the event, professionals working in integrated water resources management and other stakeholders will be trained to integrate gender equality into policies, plans, programs, and projects related to water.

This workshop is part of the PAE implementation under the Amazon Basin Project, an initiative executed by ACTO with support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). These workshops will be held in the eight member countries to prepare governments and society for participatory water management in the region.

Strategic Actions Program (SAP)

The SAP, adopted in 2017 by ACTO member countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela, was developed based on three guiding objectives: 1. strengthening Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), 2. institutional adaptation to variability and climate change, and 3. knowledge management. Its 19 strategic actions are fundamental to promoting collective responses to the rapid degradation of water resources, land, and biodiversity, strengthening the technical capacity of countries for integrated and sustainable water management, and enhancing the resilience of the population to the impacts and threats of climate variability. With the SAP as the guiding instrument of regional cooperation, the eight ACTO countries seek to benefit the population and ecosystems of the Amazon Basin based on equitable social, economic, and environmental considerations.