The initiation of the network is being financed by the Inter-American Development Bank IDB, the NGOs involved and GNF and will start in January 2009.
Background
Lakes and wetlands are among the most important and most threatened ecosystems in the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century two thirds of wetlands and lakes have been lost or seriously damaged due to draining and conversion to arable land, abstraction of groundwater and dumping of refuse. Many of them suffer from nutrient enrichment, the main sources being sewage effluents and agricultural fertilizers causing water quality and environmental problems.
The Living Lakes Network is an NGOs’ initiative to protect lakes and wetlands and to support sustainable management and development of their surroundings and catchments. Actually, more than 60 organisations representing 55 lakes and wetlands on five continents are members of the Living Lakes network. Within the network very different lakes and wetlands are represented, for example: Lake Baikal, the biggest fresh water reserve in the world, the ancient Lake Biwa in Japan, St. Lucia Lake in South Africa, Lake Constance bordering Germany, Switzerland and Austria or the Dead Sea situated in the deepest location on earth. But all these lakes and wetlands are suffering similar environmental and social problems and technical and strategically solutions are adaptable to nearby all of them.
What is the Living Lakes Network contribution towards the protection of lakes, wetlands and fresh water? Living Lakes concentrates on the exchange of information and experience between NGOs and other institutions working at “their” lakes. It is a platform to provide capacity building activities, co-operation with other stakeholders such as local and regional administrations and the economic sector, elaboration and coordination of projects between two and more partners, international information and awareness activities and support for political lobbying and advocacy. Living Lakes supports concrete projects with financial grants and helps to get funding from other sources such as the European Commission, private foundations and partners from the economical sector such as UNILEVER, Daimler, Lufthansa T-Mobile, Reckitt Benckiser or SIKA.
The Living Lakes Network is growing continuously and to maintain efficiency and positive results it is necessary to support the global coordination structure with “regional” networks. Because of the importance of Latin America and the increasing number of partners and lakes in the South and Middle American countries, the “Living Lakes Las Americas” network was chosen as the first continental network to be created.
During the next three years, the network will concentrate on the following activities:
- Capacity building, exchange of information and experience between the Iberoamerican partners via knowledge data base on the Internet, two partner meetings, virtual working groups and thematic publications in Spanish.
- Realization of three model projects to demonstrate solutions for relevant environmental and social problems (environmental education, sustainable tourism development, information and awareness, low budget waste water treatment, regenerative energy). Documentation of the realization and results of each model project and dissemination to decision makers in Iberoamerican countries.
- Strengthening regional social participatory processes in wetland conservation and sustainable use policies in Central America. Analysis and systematization of innovative Participatory Environmental Management experiences in wetlands of the region. This analysis will focus on the status and opportunities for the development of the five main areas identified by FUNGAP during the Latin American diagnosis conducted in 2005, supporting at the same time training of local stakeholders in these areas.
- Awareness raising regarding the problematic situation of lakes and wetlands in general and the concrete situation of the involved lakes and the need to increase and to support public participation on regional, national and international level (publications, mobile exhibition, attention to media represent ants, presentations of the network and the activities during regional, national and international events).
- Support to further develop international co-operation and common projects with two and more partners within the Living Lakes Las Americas Network.
The main objective of this project is to strengthen the regional network of NGOs that deal with the protection of wetlands and lakes in Latin America and the Caribbean by
(i) identifying and exchanging experiences and good practices that contribute to the design and implementation of effective initiatives aimed at the protection of wetlands and lakes, as well as the sustainable development of their surroundings and catchments; and
(ii) based on these results, developing and implementing three pilot initiatives.
Besides the above member lakes which are directly taking part in the project, all current Latinamerican member and associated lakes from the Living Lakes network will also take part in the workshops and online working groups proposed in this project. As mentioned above in the main objective of the project, the project will seek to expand the Living Lakes network to other countries in Latinamerica and Caribe.
At present, the following lakes and countries in Latinamerica are member or associated partners in the Living Lakes network:
