PROPOSAL TO CREATE THE REGIONAL WATER CENTER FOR ARID AND
SEMI-ARID ZONES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (CAZALAC) IN LA SERENA (CHILE),
UNDER UNESCO’S SPONSORSHIP
February 2nd, 2006
The Water Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Zones in Latin
America and the Caribbean (CAZALAC), based in La Serena (Chile), will from now
on be sponsored by UNESCO, under an agreement signed in this Organization’s
Headquarters by Koichiro Matsuura, General Director, and Hernán Sandoval,
the Chilean Ambassador.
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Therefore, CAZALAC is joining a network formed up by another
eight centers dedicated to water resources under UNESCO’s sponsorship,
which are located in Beijing (China), Belgrade (Serbia & Montenegro), Panama,
El Cairo (Egypt), Teheran (Republic of Iran), Yadz (Republic of Iran) Kuala
Lumpur (Malaysia) and Dundee (United Kingdom). Three more centers will be added
in the next months to complete a 12 center world network.
Source: UNESCO
More information may be obtained at:
http://www.unesco.cl/esp/sprensa/noticias/177.act?menu=/esp/sprensa/
http://www.unesco.org/es
http://portal.unesco.org/unesco/ev.php?URL_ID=31608&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1138900042
November 2005
In the 33rd Session of UNESCO’s General Conference
(United Nations’ Education, Science and Culture Organization), held in
Paris on October 3 – 21, 2005 and in response to a proposal from the Chilean
Government, the motion to accept the Water Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Zones
in Latin America and the Caribbean – CAZALAC – based in the city
of La Serena, was approved.
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Thus, although approval from the Chilean Parliament has not yet been granted,
CAZALAC was recognized as a Second Category Center under UNESCO’s sponsorship
and became the focal point of this organization regarding water management,
research and development in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid zones for the Latin
America and the Caribbean Region.
Until CAZALAC was formed up in July 2003, there was no
Regional Center to systematically address the severe problems caused by water
shortage and impairment in arid and semi-arid environments. Thus, CAZALAC’s
action area, considering arid, semi-arid and sub-humid zones in Latin America
and the Caribbean covers approximately 4.5 million square kilometers, including
22 countries from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, where a large portion of the population
inhabiting these areas lives under poverty conditions and in territories strongly
affected by desertification processes, mainly due to water shortage and the
lack of knowledge and information to appropriately manage and preserve natural
resources in general.
Once UNESCO recently approved CAZALAC’s creation
as a Regional Center under its sponsorship, actions undertaken by the Center
to boost technical, social and educational development in the Region based on
an improved water management and use in arid and semi-arid zones in Latin America
and the Caribbean were reinforced, as well as those to increase the role of
communities in developing a water culture through the establishment of a regional
center aimed at coordinating activities, projects and programs.
The initiative of creating this Center in La Serena has
been supported since its onset in the year 2003 by the Regional Government of
Coquimbo, the General Water Directorate, and the University of La Serena. Several
international courses and research studies have been developed in this period
with resources provided by UNESCO and the Government of Flanders, Belgium, in
addition to the National Fund for Regional Development of the Government of
Coquimbo. CAZALAC’s headquarters is located in the University of La Serena,
which will directly benefit water management in the IV Region and arid and semi-arid
zones in Chile.
More information:
Guido Soto
Executive Director– CAZALAC
Cisternas s/n Esq. Anfión Muñoz
La Serena – Chile
Phone Nº: 56 - 51 – 204493
Fax: 56 - 51 – 204494
Email: gsoto@cazalac.org
Information on this news in UNESCO’s site:
http://www.unesco.org/water/news/water_related_centres_es.shtml
