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Opening Session
Mr. Jorge Bonilla, National Director of PROCUENCA-SAN
JUAN from Costa Rica opened the session by citing several points
from the “Diagnostic Study of the San Juan River Basin” (1997) and
its “Strategic Action Program.” He stated that the results of the
workshop would not only provide additional material for the action
plan, butalso an input to the Third World Water Forum to be held
in March of 2003 in Japan. His statements were followed by welcoming
comments from Mr. Victor Brodersohn, Director of the Office of the
OAS Secretary General in Costa Rica.
Pablo Gonzalez, of the Unit for Sustainable Development
and Environment of the OAS (OSDE/OAS), presented the procedures
used to develop the Strategic Action Program for the basin including
preliminary studies, a search for the root causes of problems in
the basin, and preparation of the demonstration projects and concrete
actions used to prove certain technologies, methods and cooperative
alliances. The planning process included participation of civil
society and workshops that helped establish a dialogue between the
various interests and stakeholders in the basin. In addition to
the problems discovered through the root cause analysis (the major
root cause being the extreme poverty of the region), the three crosscutting
issues of gender, migration, and natural hazards were emphasized
throughout the planning process. He also said that the International
Secretariat of the Dialogue on Water and Climate hopes that the
dialogue will answer the following questions: What are the challenges
of climate variability that the users of water in the basin face?
How are these challenges confronted? Are there workable coping practices
that can be used elsewhere?
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