Abstract Inglés - Simposio Cambio Climático

7/27/2019 Abstract Ingls - Simposio Cambio Climtico

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SYMPOSIUM: "Climate Change, a mountain of challenges"

Executive Summary

The Symposium "Climate Change, a mountain of challenges" sought primarily to share

information, knowledge and research, as well as a set of experiences and projects that make

interventions in relation to mountain ecosystems and climate change (CC).

It tried to answer questions about the state of the art in both areas, about the impacts of

climate change on communities living around our glaciers, their own response initiatives, the

role and performance with the various institutions, state, private, academic and civil society in

general, on this subject. Also to share ideas, options, alternatives, that are being worked on in

relation to this mountain of challenges which is CC.

At the same time, the event had as an explicit objective that after two days of exchanges

between the social actors and various institutions, it would be possible to identify agendas that

will allow further work to future work, forming working groups or learning and practicing

communities, and subsequently esablish collaborative partnerships to optimize conventional

and unconventional resources that are available.

- THE INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK AND THE LONG TERM CONTEXTThe Symposium reiterated some findings that show a future outlook, whereby increasing

challenges were mentioned:

- The international negotiations within the United Nations Framework are stuck sinceKyoto in 1997 and even going backwards in terms of the binding commitments of

countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Even the minimum goals

established seem difficult to fulfill.The second period of the Kyoto Protocol entered

into force beginning of this year, but only with a very limited amount of countries and

with commitments that do not respond to the levels science requires. Only in 2020, a

new Protocol, applicable to all countries will enter into force, but it may well be late to

asure to control the CC scenarios.

- The positions of our country in this respect, are confrontational regarding themitigation responsibilities of developed countries and include a clear statement on thedefense of "Mother Earth." However, public policies are not always consistent with

these declarative postulates.

- Unresolved problems regarding development and poverty in our countries, which CCwill perpatuate, with a trend to increase. Even if we only take into account the critical

variable of access to drinking water, basic sanitation and production; social

vulnerability issues could complicate and worsen them to the extreme. Moreover,

access to water is generaly emphatizesed only as a human right and not as a social

duty to preserve as a common good. The misunderstood empowerment of actors and

sectors that ensure private and corporate interests over the common good, may

potentiate the existing problems of pressure on this critical resource.


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- The long-term vision of the country which was presented at the Symposium,specifically of the Altiplano, with predictions of a 4 degree rise in temperature,

predicts scenarios of aridity and water stress and a wide range of derived phenomena,

This constitutes a real stimulus for analysis and healthy provocation, for the set of

actors and institutions that are not only interested, but involved with these problems,

as we can join efforts for the forecast regarding adaptation, as well as mitigation of

climate change.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, RESEARCH AND INNOVATIONS

- On the first day of work, over 20 presentations were given, divided into three thematicgroups: Sustainable Water Management, Sustainable Management of the "green

sponge", related to the management of biodiversity and the working group on Local

Sustainable Economy.- In the working group ofSustainable Water Management, the main ideas focused on

relationships with climatic variables, finding the one hand, that there are efforts to

gather climate information, especially meteorological data records, but there are still

many problems because of dispersed and disrupted information and difficulty to share

better the little existing basic information and general research.

- The construction of climate models and scenarios to which was referred by severalspeakers in this and other working groups, shows efforts to maximize the data

available everyone employes.

In this and other working groups it became evident that there are gaps between the scientificand academic production, respect to, on the one hand, the people who alledgedly are the

most vulnerable and require responses generated by these investigations. On the other hand,

their is a distance to actually contribute to public policy and dificult access to the sphere of

political decision making.

One of the concrete proposals in this table, is the example of the construction of the

Observatory of Lake Titicaca and the TDPS System, from which lessons can be learned to

include the issue of climate change impacts in mountains in such networks.

In the working group of the "Green Sponge" Sustainable Management, the CC impacts on

native plants and animals it became evident in some research. Shifts in rainfall patterns affect

the existence of certain plants, as well as provoking delays in flowering and fruiting times.

Before there was a very clear separation of species living above 4,500 meters and those which

inhabit lowlands; now these species are sharing habitat (case: papillosa and thola). This

involves several problems.

This type of studies can be done only by the long-term monitoring, as well as the realization of

robust correlations between biological monitoring information and CC, and this is only possible

with systematic historical information. Problems or gaps with systematized climate

information were also evidenced in this working group.


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The relationship between research and participation in these communities is considered

strategically and vital, not only in socio-economic and cultural issues, but also on biological and

climate ones. Committed social participation makes sure there is an engagement to help

preserving local monitoring equipments for collecting technical data in the field, making sure

they know their value, avoid becoming carriers of pests and to involve communities in the

management of information and knowledge involved in field research agendas of medium and

long duration.

In this space experiences of research networks (Gloria Project) were shown, which count with

the participation of countries in the region, even achieving to have some political impacts in

the memoranda of understanding of the countries, such as conservation of flamingos.

Networks also facilitate access to funding sources.

Other ideas in this working groups were proposals regarding the idea of enhancing

afforestation and native ecosystems (such as wetlands), enhancing their functions of natural

dams for water storage, which cost and maintenance would be lower than conventional

physical infrastructure, while adopting better to the culture of the rural population.

In the thematic table of Sustainable Local Economy, an issue present in some case studies as

the Sajama National Park, is to observe and rescue local strategies of territorial occupation,

collective management of resources and territory, related to the management of risks that

may affect productive factors. Here, an important issue is the balanced management of rights

for water use in a collective way, between families and within families.

Another issue present in several presentations, was to show the work done in the perspective

of Climate Change that is very related to the problems of risk and natural disasters prevention,especially in regard to production risks. Even, rightly, it was suggested to invest more public

municipal and departmental resources in the existing budget items on risk prevention.

In this area, some good practices were highlighed, such as: local risk management, the

relationship between modern instruments (satellite sensors, GIS) and qualitative and

participatory instruments that collect the perceptions of people. Tho is cross this information

seems very useful.

Another interesting practice is to promote and strengthen new local leadership, such as people

with knowledge and abilities to handle the production system and their relationships, as in the

case of Yapuchiris (which PROSUCO started years ago) and which now has other interesting

applications. These leaders also encourage knowledge dialogues as a very specific exercise in

the management of knowledge in relation to technical and academic institutions that

ultimately contribute to peer dialogue between them.

Also some new contributions and approaches, such as a "Biocultural Economy" (Program

Biocultura-SDC), which is based on the complementary relationship between nature and

culture, were presented. The antagonistic relationship between capitalist development and

systems of reciprocity generates an interface of endogenous economic development, an

economy oriented to "live well". Finally, there are the potential contributions of ecological

economicy, because of its systemic, transdisciplinary and limits-defining views on the


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economy, which take into account physical, chemical, and biological phenomena that are

inherent to the ecosystems.

OPTIONS, EXPERIENCES AND PRACTICES OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

On the second, 20 presentations were made, of which the following experiences andinitiatives can be highlighted:

- Public national programs, such as the Andean Regional Climate Change Adaptation Project

(PRAA, for its abreviation in Spanish) presented their pilot projects, whci are relatied to the

work on glaciers dependent basins and its applications for water supply projects, addressing

issues of efficient use of water resources and identifying new sources of water.

- Some of the experiences on CC, are strongly related to the issue of short term risk

prevention, as noted in the working groups on research. Also, in this area, the work is oriented,

with strong emphasis, to public participation and local, municipal, and even Nacional advocacy.

The experiences also point to a more comprehensive approach, including productive, socio-

cultural, cpacity building and other issues.

- Emphasis was put on the presentation of the Cliamte Change Adaptation Plan for the Sajama

National Park, which has a holistic approach, in which the participation of the population, and

particularly of young people, was essential to develop and implement this document.

- Some lessons from the presented experiences arose, which is helpful to begin to record

them:

The best way to address the CC is the interdisciplinary way.

Mountain systems are vertical and especially diverse and complex. The climate is interpreted not only by weather stations, but also with plants, ice,

history.

- The specific experience of "water footprint" left ideas that can be very well used in

awareness programs especially in relation to the cost of water, the issue of rights and duties in

the perspective of promotion of water as a common good .

TOWARDS A FUTURE WORKING AGENDA

The symposium made clear that there is some progress in information, knowledge and

interventions for Cliamte Change issues, but there is a long way to go to learn more about the

set of problems arising from the CC and its specific impacts on people, animals, plants and the

whole ecological systems.

It also became clear that there are different institutional efforts in research and interventions,

but they are very scattered and not coordinated among them. Thus, to join them and optimize

them in joint and coordinated work is one of the biggest challenges.

In this sense, the event identified the need to address some initiatives to generate conditions

for interagency coordination through the creation of a Learning Community, for research


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agendas, and a Community of Practice, to promote the relationship of the work done in

interventions.

The aim of promoting the creation of these communities is to seek the creation of an

environment for meeting, exchange, increased communication between different public and

private actors in general. Those could be organised around some basic objectives such aspromoting knowledge management, the interinstitutional learning, both of the knowledge and

the practices, with the prospect of a better collective contribution to the construction of

answers and options to address more adequately and efficiently to the challenges of CC.

The Bolivian Catholic University and Agua Sustentable, as organizers, will invite participants to

subscribe it to these initiatives, starting from the second half of next June, with the specific

proposal to rescue the issues that have been identified in the Symposium, to identify work

schedules to take the first steps in the formation of working groups, with a view to

progressively establish these communities, which in the future can become true cooperation

networks.

Abstract Inglés - Simposio Cambio Climático

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