18/04/2005– WWF, in collaboration
with local partners, is developing a water
fund to finance responsible watershed management
in Guatemala’s Sierra de las Minas Biosphere.
Known as the Water Fund, water users – including
bottling companies, distilleries, hydroelectric
plants and paper processing mills – are showing
their commitment to environmental responsibility,
as well as their awareness that water is a
strategic resource whose conservation must
be planned for the long term, by making significant
financial contributions towards environmental
services in the region.
“This Fund will encourage short-term investments
to optimize water use in the industries as
a means of reducing effluents to the Motagua
and Polochic Rivers, as well as the vulnerability
of the soils,” said Carlos Morales, Freshwater
Officer for WWF Central America.
“Investments that will also encourage better
management of watersheds and water recharge
zones in the upper reaches of the watershed
to ensure a permanent water supply,” he added.
Cooperative agreements have already been
signed with Coca Cola Bottling Company, the
paper production plant, PAINSA, and the rum
production plant Licorera Zacapaneca S.A
With these companies, and with support from
the Fundación Defensores de la Naturaleza,
studies are being made on water-use practices
and ranges of use in order to propose alternatives
for reducing the volumes of water used, reducing
effluents to the rivers and optimizing costs
in industrial processes.
This work is being carried out with guidance
from industrial engineers specialized in cleaner
production techniques, a work strategy that
has been supported for several years in Central
America by the United Nations Industrial Development
Organization (UNIDO) and other institutions,
and has produced methodologies and tools that
serve as the foundation of this project.
“Under this framework, WWF and Defensores
de la Naturaleza are designing the Water Fund
in a visionary way, dependent on interests
and market possibilities, to offer a service
that is attractive to the users in the watershed
and that balances conservation, development
and water quality,” said WWF’s Carlos Morales.
According to WWF, the Water Fund will help
residents of the highlands of the Motagua
River watershed carry out sound management
of their forests, and those in the lowlands
to use water efficiently without wasting it,
and reduce contamination of effluent waters.“Educational
activities will be fundamental for getting
more water users to appreciate the benefits
of water as a natural resource,” Moraels added.
Activities are currently concentrated on
industry, as it is the sector that uses significant
quantities of water as a raw material for
production. In the future, WWF will also work
with agro-industry and household users of
freshwater.
