Early citizen participation with a survey on the website of the General Directorate of Water of the MOP and in-person activities of national scope are part of the preparation of the Plan.

In a joint effort to confront and reduce climate change and its multiple effects on Chile's water resources, the Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Water Resources sector (PACC-RH) is being developed.

This Plan is led by the General Directorate of Water (DGA) of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP), with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as the implementing agency, and with financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

In this regard, the general director of Water, Rodrigo Sanhueza, pointed out that it is the concern of the MOP to advance towards water security, as well as that the Plan has greater representativeness by collecting the vision of those who inhabit the territory. “The participation instances to prepare the Plan are key when it comes to prioritizing the most urgent lines of action and focusing resources on them. We have had extreme rains from the central zone to the south and a lack of rainfall in the northern zone, these are manifestations of climate change and we must prepare to better face that reality,” he highlighted.

Chile meets 7 of the 9 conditions of vulnerability to climate change defined by the United Nations: low-altitude coastal areas; arid and semi-arid zones, with forest cover and exposed to forest deterioration; territory susceptible to natural disasters; urban areas with air pollution problems; mountain ecosystems; and areas prone to drought and desertification. Therefore, to implement solutions to these vulnerabilities, the Climate Change Framework Law establishes the development of sectoral plans that seek to guide the adaptation of different areas of society to climate change and increase their resilience. One of them is this first Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Water Resources sector (PACC-RH), to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, considering the availability of water, aquifer sustainability and extreme events, with territoriality approach.

A step towards national water security

To prepare the Plan, the main risks and opportunities that arise as a consequence of the impacts of climate change on water resources at the national level will be identified, with a macrozonal view, establishing specific measures to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience capacity. Likewise, guidelines will be proposed for water planning and management instruments, as well as recommendations for other sectoral plans linked to water matters.  

The project coordinator at FAO, Irene Bernaus, explained that the PACC-RH brings together a group of universities and research centers in the country, led by the Global Change Center of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (CCG-UC). This is how the University of Chile, University of Concepción, University of Tarapacá, University of La Serena, University of Valparaíso, the Ecosystem Research Center of Patagonia and the University of Magallanes will contribute with their work from the different territories in the conferences. of citizen participation to be developed in 2024 to prepare the proposals that will make up the Plan.

In this regard, Sebastián Vicuña, Director of the CCG-UC for the PACC-RH highlighted the sense of responsibility and commitment of the country's universities to water security and added that “we have a great diversity of disciplines and a territoriality necessary to achieve the objectives.” of the plan".

Involvement of citizens and indigenous peoples

Citizen participation is key in the preparation of the Plan, so in a first stage a questionnaire has been provided on the DGA website (https://snia.mop.gob.cl/pacc-rh/inicio) to collect opinions and perceptions about vulnerability to climate change and possible adaptation measures in the water resources sector, with the possibility of attaching relevant information for the preparation of the Plan, such as technical, scientific, environmental, social, economic aspects , among others.

In addition, a series of face-to-face participatory activities of national scope, as well as virtual ones will be carried out in the different macrozones of the country that will aim to recognize and raise the problems, build and contribute with ideas and possible solutions to face the effects of climate change. around the water.

“Climate change affects the entire society, but in particular vulnerable groups such as women and indigenous peoples, so their participation is essential for the Adaptation Plan in order to incorporate their vision and concerns, with a gender and multicultural approach. ”, highlighted Irene Bernaus.

This work considers a public consultation of the preliminary project at the end of the participatory process, guaranteeing that the voices of all sectors of society are heard and considered in the final project of this Plan, which will be presented to the Council of Ministers for Sustainability and Climate Change for approval in 2024.