On World Environment Day, the BioCuenca Alliance is launched in Cucutá, Colombia. BioCuenca seeks to generate a collective action platform directed at the environmental conservation of the catchments of the rivers Zulia and Pamplonita in Northern Santander, Colombia.

La Alianza BioCuenca, cumple en Abril de 2016 sus primero 10 meses de operacion con varias victorias tempranas que han permitido fortalecer esta plataforma de cooperacion, por la conservacion de las fuentes de agua del Páramo de Santurban y las cuencas de los rios Zulia y Pamplonita.

The “Biocuenca Alliance” (Alianza Biocuenca), a public-private fund to protect the basins of the Zulia and Pamplonita rivers in Colombia, will complete this April its first 10 months of operation. Some important achievements have strengthened this cooperation platform.

The government of Colombia is the first national government to publish a complete multi-sectoral water footprint assessment of all watersheds in its territory. The study was realised by a partnership of the Embassy of Switzerland - Agency of Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), Good Stuff International Latin America and the Caribbean (GSI-LAC) and Centro of Science and Techology of  Antioquia –CTA.

El gobierno de Colombia ha sido el primer gobierno nacional en publicar una evaluación multisectorial completa de la huella hídrica de todas las cuencas de su territoriocomo parte integrante del Estudio Nacional del Agua (ENA) 2014.El estudio fue realizado mediante una asociación de la Embajada de Suiza - Agencia de Cooperación Suiza (COSUDE), Good Stuff Internacional Lationoamérica y Caribe (GSI-LAC) y el Centro de Ciencia y Techología de Antioquia CTA.

From today, GSI operates from Medellin, Colombia as Good Stuff International Latin America (GSI LA). Our colleague Diego Arevalo will lead the establishment of GSI LA office. As Water Management and Water Footprint specialist, Diego also significantly strengthens the Good Stuff International team.

GSI was present in Stockholm this year, sharing learnings with the Water Footprint Network on our ENA project: the incorporation of the water footprint assessment to the 316 watersheds in Colombia. We shared the factors of success that led to water footprint knowledge appropriation by IDEAM. By providing these factors we set the ground for future reproductions of this process in other countries.

From 20-23 May 2015, we organise The Global Water Footprint Standard Training course together with the Centro de Technología de Antiochia CTA) and the Water Footprint Network. The course takes place in Medellin, Colombia and addressses all aspects of the Water Footprint Assessment as defined by the Global Water Footprint Assessment Standard.

Recently, theUniversity of Twente,UNEP and Good Stuff International collaborated in order to apply theWater Footprint Assessment (WFA) for the first time to the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) subcontinent. A comprehensive accounting on water footprints per sector was produced, as well as a water footprint sustainability analysis.

Diego Arévalo (GSI-ALC) entrevista a Nelson Omar Vargas, Jefe de la Sección de Hidrología del IDEAM, quien explica los beneficios de la inclusión de la evaluación de Huella Hídrica en el estudio nacional de agua de Colombia (ENA) de 2014, así como sus perspectivas de futuro.