CAN Countries approve Andean Environmental Agenda that will guide their joint efforts over the next five years

Lima, Apr. 11, 2012.- During the Sixth Regular Meeting of the Andean Council of Ministers of the Environment and Sustainable Development, held yesterday by videoconference, the Andean Community Member Countries approved the Andean Environmental Agenda for 2012-2016 and the Action Plan for the Andean Strategy for Integrated Management of Water Resources.

The Director General of the CAN General Secretariat, Santiago Cembrano, stated that the new Environmental Agenda contains short and medium-term subregional actions that will help to reinforce the capacities of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru in this area and will add value to national efforts.  “We are seeking to improve nature-friendly environmental management and sustainable development,” he declared.  

He explained that this instrument has been based on the lessons learned from the previous agenda (2006-2010). Implementation of that agenda, in the beginning, had proven to be a challenge, as it called for promoting subregional cooperation to attain common objectives.  These were related to the conservation of biodiversity, the response to climate change, and the integrated management of water resources.  

Santiago Cembrano explained that insofar as the Action Plan for the Andean Strategy for Integrated Management of Water Resources is concerned, this is a short-, medium- and long-term guiding and planning instrument for use by institutional and social actors of the CAN Member Countries.  “Its purpose is to promote joint action to further the development, sustainability and strengthening of Integrated Water Resource Management in the Andean Community Member Countries,” he pointed out, after noting that the Andean Strategy had been approved through Decision 763 of August 2011.

During the meeting of the Andean Council of Ministers of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the Bolivian, Colombian, Ecuadorean and Peruvian authorities expressed their special appreciation to the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID) for its support through the Andean Regional AECID – CAN Program.