Gathered on April 23 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, the water authorities of the eight member countries of ACTO agreed on 14 Global Environmental Principles and four Guidelines for regional cooperation under the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the Amazon Basin. This set of principles and guidelines was consolidated during the Regional Workshop on IWRM Frameworks and Principles, organized by the Amazon Basin Project – SAP Implementation.

 

 

At the opening of the meeting, Eduardo Toromayo, Vice Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation at Bolivia’s Ministry of Environment and Water, emphasized: “Less than two years after the historic Belém Declaration [Amazon Summit, August 2023], we reaffirm today the mandate to advance toward a living, sustainable, and protected Amazon, where water — the source of life and the integrative axis of our territory — is managed equitably, reasonably, and in harmony with the rights of nature and Amazonian peoples.” Toromayo also stressed that “regional cooperation is not merely an option, but an urgent necessity.”

 

 

Throughout the event, Isabelle Vanderbeck, Task Manager at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) — the entity responsible for implementing the Amazon Basin Project — highlighted that this agreement on common principles establishes the foundations of a robust model capable of making the Amazon a global reference in water management. Rathna Kewal, ACTO’s Climate Change Coordinator, in turn, emphasized that sharing knowledge, experiences, and guiding principles “enriches national water resources policies and broadens the objectives of the SAP, strengthening our collective action.”

Dialogue and collective construction

The 14 Global Environmental Principles — which range from the right to a healthy environment and the systemic vision of water management to intergenerational equity — along with the four Guidelines on multilevel governance, recognition of water as a finite resource, promotion of active participation by local actors, and strengthening of evidence- and data-based management, were discussed in technical working groups (photos below). In these groups, participants identified convergences among the regulatory frameworks of each country. These principles and guidelines will be integrated into the updated version of the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) for Integrated Management of the Amazon Basin, to be revised under the Amazon Basin Project.