"Water, Global Environmental Change Vulnerability and Adaptive Options. Cases in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile"

ELMA MONTAÑA

Tucson

Conferencia; Conference of Invited Academics; 2013

Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona

This presentation discussed the results of a comparative research aimed at assessing differential vulnerabilities to climate/water events in selected Andean basins and to explore institutional arrangements and policies needed to enhance resilience to climate change and reduce poverty. The basins studied were the Mendoza river basin, in central-western Argentina; the Pucara (Tiraque‐Punata) river basin in Cochabamba, Bolivia; and the Elqui river basin, in the Coquimbo region, Chile. The research took climate and water scenarios for each basin as starting points for identifying present and future vulnerabilities and impacts on the poverty of these rural communities. The results show the ways in which climate and water vulnerability and poverty links to previous and current social and economic exposures resulting from market oriented economic policies. Working with communities in three different countries also allowed the comparison of vulnerability and poverty equations in different development models and institutional frameworks. Once the links between global environmental change, water and poverty were identified, an anticipatory learning was done by exploring possible future policies and envisioning its effects on both climate change adaptation and poverty alleviation.