Piloting Colombia's New IWRM Policy in Key Catchments (ColCuencas)

Research & Development
May 2011 - Jun 2015

Partners: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad del Valle, Colombian Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Association of Regional Autonomous Corporations (ASOCARS)
Donor: Stichting IHE
Donor Programme: DGIS - UNESCO-IHE Programmatic Cooperation

Latin America and the Caribbean

The aim of the ColCuencas project is to contribute to the development of a framework and specific tools through which new basin management plans can be implemented in Colombia. With support from the Dutch Embassy, the Colombian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MESD) is developing or adapting Management Plans in four representative river basins of Colombia: the Río Chinchiná, Río Gualí, Río Pamplonita, and the Wetland Complex of the Lower Río Magdelena. UNESCO-IHE and its university partners in Colombia are integrated with the activities of MESD and its partners, namely ASOCARS and IDEAM, in these basins. COLCUENCAs activities include 1) providing technical input to the development of hydrologic, hydraulic, and water quality models in the pilot basins to support efforts to delineate flooding zones and riparian buffers, prevent pollution, better allocate water, assess and protect aquifers, and establish environmental flow requirements, 2) supporting the production of an updated version of the "Guía Técnico Científica para la Ordenación de las Cuencas Hidrográficas en Colombia" (Catchment Planning Guide), which is applied nationwide, 3) supporting ASOCARS and MESD in the capture and communication of lessons learned from the program, and 4) supporting the Corporación Autónoma Regional del Valle del Cauca (CVC) to assess flood risks and integrate flood risk management into the broader area of integrated water resources management.