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Contact:
Rose Marie-Harris
Monday, August 13, 2007 – Mr. Cornelius Isaac of the Forestry
Department is Saint Lucia representative at a OAS Hemispheric Freshwater session
where Water resources managers and experts from the Caribbean and other Member
States of the OAS will meet in Guatemala this week to agree on a shared and
targeted response to new and emerging challenges in water resources management
in the Hemisphere.
The organized by the OAS Department of Sustainable Development is being held
against the backdrop of mounting pressures on freshwater resources in the
Hemisphere due in part to climate variability and climate change. (Greenhouse
gas emissions associated with air travel to the meeting have been offset through
a carbon offset purchase for the meeting.)
Over the past decade, several OAS Member States have been experiencing prolonged
periods of droughts and/or floods which have increased pressure on these
countries to adapt to these changes.
Based on the priorities identified by Member States through a survey conducted
by the OAS, the meeting will draw on recent information and practices from
satellite and remote sensing platforms, geographic information systems (GIS) and
water models, to help participants to identify pressure points and examine
appropriate response options.
Additionally, the meeting will aim to identify common areas of technical
cooperation among OAS Member States that will promote good governance in the
freshwater sector. OAS Executive Secretary of SEDI, Alfonso Quinonez, considers
the meeting to be timely and critical. "The technology is available to enable to
identify current and future threats to the region’s freshwater resources and to
plan appropriate and effective responses. It is vital that OAS Member States
take full advantage of such technology to address familiar problems like water
contamination and the full range of challenges posed by Climate change, which we
are told will have unprecedented impacts on millions of people in our
hemisphere. The need to act together to design and implement climate adaptation
plans in the water sector is urgent."
As part of the standard practice of the OAS Department of Sustainable
Development, all travel to OAS sustainable development meetings or projects
includes a carbon offset purchase. For the August meeting in Guatemala,
approximately 36 tons of carbon equivalent from air-travel to Guatemala City was
offset through the support of a reforestation project in Chiapis, Mexico.
For more information, please contact S. Vaughan or C. Springer at (202)
458-6248. For more information on the carbon offset program, please contact Juan
Cruz Monticelli or visit The Carbon Neutral Company Limited at
http://www.carbonneutral.com/
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