General Objective:

• To reinforce the Region’s technical, social and educational development based on an improved water management and use in arid and semi-arid zones in Latin America and the Caribbean and, in addition, to increase the role of local communities in developing a water culture.

 Specific Objectives:

• To promote scientific research on water issues and water management problems in arid and semi-arid zones in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• To encourage greater contact among researchers working in water resources in the Region.
• To disseminate results from research developed on water resources in arid and semi-arid zones of the Region.
• To provide education and training on a sound water management and to encourage improving the capacities of regional scientists.
• To establish a sustainable water management program in pilot areas in the Region, following the Dublin principles.

Beneficiaries

The Center’s activities directly benefit 22 countries, including Mexico, that show arid and semi-arid zones in Latin America and the Caribbean. In South America, 25.4% of the territory is arid and semi-arid, including 9 countries in this sector of the continent. Central America has 2 countries with 7.8% of their areas showing these environments and ten island-states in the Caribbean that have 20.5% of their territory with arid and semi-arid zones. The following may be highlighted among direct beneficiaries:

• Research Centers existing in the Region, which will be encouraged to increase or undertake new research projects on arid and semi-arid zones issues as a result of CAZALAC’s catalyzing or synergic effect.
• Productive companies linked to these zones (mining, tourism, agriculture, etc.), which will be provided with a wider technological basis as a result of the guidance supplied by the Center on some key considerations on water resources development and management.
• National and local governments, which will have an improved capacity to respond to their tax-payers demands, since better tools to predict and mitigate disasters will be available and will contribute to attain a more productive and sustainable use of natural resources.
• Local populations, who will have improved access to technological development, which will help to alleviate poverty and decrease nature risks.
• Professionals and technicians linked to water management, who will increase their ability to face the system’s technical, economic and social requirements through education and training.

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.

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.

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.