On September 7 and 8, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA), through the Amazon Basin Project (OTCA/UNEP/GEF), will hold the Strategic Actions Program (SAP) Implementation Workshop in Leticia, a city bordering Brazil.

The event aims to identify, along with relevant national stakeholders, priority actions and promote capacities for the implementation of the Strategic Actions Program (SAP) in Colombia and within the framework of OTCA’s regional cooperation.

Agreed upon and endorsed in 2017 by OTCA member countries – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela – the Strategic Actions Program (SAP) aims to ensure the integrated and sustainable management of transboundary water resources in the Amazon River basin, taking into account variability and climate change.

In the second half of 2023, implementation workshops of the program are being held in each of the Amazonian countries to prepare governments and society for participatory water management in the region. Colombia is the second country to organize its national workshop. The first was Bolivia, and the next will be Peru.

The public event in Leticia will bring together relevant national stakeholders in the areas of water management, culture, and education to formulate recommendations for the SAP implementation process, combining technical and cultural dimensions and seeking to identify opportunities for regional collaboration, thus contributing to the formulation of the National Action Plan (NAP).

In each country, the NAP will be a document aligned with national policies and aimed at the implementation of the SAP in its strategic lines of institutional strengthening for IWRM, climate change adaptation, and basin water resources monitoring. At the same time, local cultural and educational aspects relevant to the development of the water theme will be considered.

Additionally, to ensure the cross-cutting inclusion of the gender perspective in the implementation of IWRM and SAP, the national workshops will offer training in the planning and implementation of projects, programs, and policies from a gender equality perspective.