The water crisis in Bogotá and other Andean cities is closely linked to the drastic decrease in the flow of the Amazon River, which has registered a reduction of up to 80% in its water level and this decrease not only affects the riverside communities, but It also impacts the supply of drinking water for millions of people in Andean cities.
That is why the appointment of Martín Von Hildebrand as secretary general of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) has become crucial to address these challenges and his role is fundamental not only to promote policies to protect the Amazon, but also to ensure that the ecological interconnections between this vast ecosystem and Andean cities are properly understood and valued.
The preservation of the Amazon is essential not only for its biodiversity, but also to guarantee the sustainable supply of water to millions of people who depend on this vital resource and this is what von Hildebrand has spoken about since his recent inauguration at ACTO: the relevant participation of indigenous peoples, civil society, the scientific community and religious cults, fundamental to the work of preserving the Amazon: “The indigenous people are the true ‘administrators’ of the Amazon,” he said.
Martín Von Hildebrand faces the harsh impact of the devastation of the Amazon, a vital ecosystem for the environmental balance of South America, and his leadership comes at this difficult time, given that the degradation of the Amazon is having a direct impact on the water supply in cities such as Bogota.
Among the interconnected climatic phenomena is the relationship between the Amazon and the water supply in the Colombian capital, which is explained through the phenomenon known as “flying rivers.” This phenomenon refers to the humidity generated by the Amazon forests that is transported through air currents to the Andes, where it condenses and produces rain.
It is estimated that approximately 60% of the annual rainfall that feeds Bogotá’s water system comes from these streams. And in the case of deforestation, which has reached 17% in the Amazon region, it interrupts this life cycle, thus reducing the recharge capacity of the Chingaza moor, which is crucial for the supply of drinking water, according to a report .
But deforestation not only affects the quantity of water available, but also its quality. The loss of trees means less evapotranspiration, resulting in a widespread decrease in precipitation. This could lead to cities like Bogotá, Quito and La Paz facing serious water crises in the future.
In this sense, Secretary von Hildebrand has emphasized that without concerted action to protect the Amazon, these cities could lose their access to critical sources of drinking water. In this sense, he said that “we are all involved in the problem, governments cannot do it alone. We all have to work together. Each country is not going to work on its own and it is not just a matter of deforestation or restoration, it is the functioning of the ecosystem. The indicator of success is the rains, not the hectares,” he concluded.
Likewise, another text reveals that ACTO, which brings together the eight Amazonian countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela), was stuck since February because Peru had not presented approval for the appointment. of von Hildebrand, the appointee of Colombia, the country whose turn it is to select.
Although it is a difficult moment for von Hildebrand, the Colombian-American anthropologist, author of “The Call of the Jaguar,” which tells of his life in the Amazon, assumes the organization at a time when the eyes of the world are focused on one of the most relevant areas of the Southern Cone.
Finally, it is worth saying that Martín von Hildebrand is an ethnologist and anthropologist who has led efforts to ensure indigenous territorial rights and the protection of the Colombian Amazon rainforest, awarded the Right Livelihood Award, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the Order of the Golden Ark in recognition of his work with the Gaia Amazonas Foundation and the COAMA program, according to Wikipedia.
Known as an activist for cultural and ecological diversity, his work in both government and non-government sectors has led to more than 26 million hectares of Colombian Amazon territory being officially returned to local indigenous inhabitants, allowing indigenous organizations to manage their own education, health and other programs through local governance and the decentralization of state policies.
With information from Wikipedia and EFE.
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