The fourth edition of the Regional Water Dialogues in Latin America and the Caribbean will be taking place March 11-13, 2024 in the capital of Costa Rica. The participants will include the Vice President of Honduras, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, ministers and deputy ministers, and more than 100 other participants from 18 countries in the region drawn from the public and private sectors, international agencies, development banks, academia, and civil society. In addition, more than 1000 people have already signed up to follow the event online in 30 countries in this region and other parts of the world.
Organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the meeting will be held in a hybrid format (in-person and virtual) at the latter’s headquarters, in San José. The event provides a high-level ministerial space for sharing technical experiences with a multi-actor approach, to promote good practices and advance the achievement of SDG 6 in the region, whose aim is to “ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” This year, there will be a special high-level session on water and agriculture, to seek solutions that have a maximum impact on water resources, given that the agriculture sector is the biggest consumer of water, accounting for more than 70% of all water use.
Currently, 164 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean do not have access to safe drinking water and 336 million lack safely managed sanitation services. In the last three decades, water-related emergencies accounted for 88% of all disasters that occurred in the region. This makes it essential to promote and speed up a sustainable, inclusive water transition that guarantees the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, eliminates water poverty, reduces overexploitation and conflicts over the use of water, and serves as a boost to innovation and the circular economy.
The inaugural ceremony will take place on Monday, March 11 at 9:00 a.m. Costa Rica time (GMT-6). The speakers will be Doris Gutiérrez, the Vice President of Honduras, the country that holds the Presidency pro tempore of CELAC; Arnoldo André Tinoco, Foreign Minister of Costa Rica; José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Executive Secretary of ECLAC; and Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA.
Over the three days, the work will focus on the implementation of the Regional Action Agenda for Water approved in 2023, in order to i) analyze the progress made and challenges involved in achieving SDG 6, and ii) highlight successful experiences and lessons learned for the achievement of that goal.
The event will include a space for discussing and analyzing the Summary Regional Position Report in preparation for this year’s 10th World Water Forum, which synthesizes the main challenges and action proposals for tackling the water challenges in the region.
