4 January 2013: The International Shared Aquifer Resources Management (ISARM) Initiative Americas programme conducted a meeting with national coordinators from Brazil, Venezuela, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The meeting provided an opportunity to advance ongoing ISARM work.

Hosted by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC), the meeting took place in late November 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The meeting examined new data that will form the basis for the upcoming ISARM Americas report “Regional Strategy for the Integrated and Sustainable Management of the Transboundary Aquifers in the Americas.”

The agenda also included discussion of current activities being undertaken by IGRAC, including the Transboundary Waters Assessment Programme (TWAP), which will take place from 2013-2014, and a joint session with the “Programa Marco Cuenca de Plata,” charged with coordinating management of the transboundary Guaraní Aquifer.

ISARM, a joint initiative of UNESCO and the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), was founded in 2002 to promote international cooperation between riparian States in the management of shared aquifers. [ISARM Press Release]