Regardless of their size, their location, or the degree of development of the country in which they are situated, river basins play an important role in the economic life of their countries. This becomes even more important when flood-caused losses of capital goods and production and service capacity, especially in major economic sectors such as agriculture, energy, and transportation are taken into account. It is the variability of water resources and its effects on the socioeconomic infrastructure that make the relationship between river-basin management and environmental management so pertinent to sustainable development.
With the support of the Secretariat of Water Resources of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment, Water Resources, and Legal Amazonia, experts from these economic sectors and specialists in the environment, planning, and flood mitigation met in Foz do Iguaçu to deal with this topic. They attended presentations of case studies, discussed experiences with and strategies for reducing the impact of floods on the selected economic sectors, and recommended activities appropriate for hemispheric cooperation.
The conclusions and recommendations of the Seminar-Workshop on Reduction of the Vulnerability of the Agriculture, Energy, and Transportation Sectors to Floods in River Basins are presented in this publication.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States hopes that the results of the Seminar-Workshop will be useful to the countries of the hemisphere.
Kirk P. Rodgers
Director
Unit of Sustainable Development and Environment
