The Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Eco-region (CONDESAN) is an association of public and private sector partners with a common focus, who take advantage of synergies to carry out and facilitate concerted action in research, training, development, and policy initiatives. Such action is designed to coordinate sustainable socioeconomic advances that promote the equity and well being of the peoples of the Andean eco-region. CONDESAN was conceived in 1992 as an organization to promote cooperation among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), universities, international research institutions, and private companies; work for preservation of natural resources, agrofood chains, and conservation of biodiversity; engage in policy advocacy; and facilitate exchange of information and communication (InfoAndina).
CONDESAN and IYM2002
During the International Year of Mountains (IYM2002), CONDESAN actively participated in national and regional events and cooperated in the organization and dissemination of agendas, results, and principal recommendations through its InfoAndina network, the Latin American Node of the Mountain Forum.
In its role as a promoter of regional conservation policies and sustainable management of Andean natural resources, CONDESAN– InfoAndina organized an electronic forum, in May and June 2002, emphasizing sustainable development of Andean communities associated with decentralization and local management processes. The electronic forum, “Rural Municipalities and Sustainable Local Management of Mountain Regions,” was cosponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM)–Andes, and the Interministerial Commission on Employment and Wellbeing of Ecuador, moderated by Hernán Valencia, Sustainable Development and Local Governments (DSGL)–Quito. In all, 310 representatives of local governments, NGOs, and the educational sector participated, collecting 52 case studies and commentaries concerned with natural resource management, solid residues, making the environment healthy, development of high Andean rural industry, microenterprises, and participatory planning of territorial management (see www.condesan.org).
CONDESAN and the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit (4 February 2002–22 April 2002)
The United Nations Development Program commissioned the Mountain Forum ( www.mtnforum.org), through its regional nodes in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, and the Global Node, to organize 10 electronic consultations designed to enrich the thematic documents of the Bishkek Mountain Platform presented at the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in November 2002 (IYM2002; www.mtnforum.org/bgms/).
The Latin American Node of the Mountain Forum, operated by CONDESAN–InfoAndina since 1997, distributed summaries of the thematic articles in English and Spanish to its Latin American audience, soliciting case studies and commentaries that formed part of the Bishkek Mountain Platform. InfoAndina organized a competition for selection of case studies on realities in Latin America, collecting representative cases on all 10 themes ( www.condesan.org/infoandina/foros/bishkek/).
Supporting global initiatives for conservation of mountain water resources, CONDESAN–InfoAndina led preparatory electronic consultations on the themes of “Water, natural resources, hazards, desertification and the implications of climate change,” organized in collaboration with the nodes of the Mountain Forum ( www.mtnforum.org), under the auspices of the United Nations Environmental Program and SDC.
CONDESAN and the Andean vision of water
In the Andes, water is the most important component in production; it is also a source of cooperation and integration and a fundamental element of cultural identity. Besides marginalizing the perspective of indigenous and peasant populations in the Andes and the rest of the world, the world vision of water approved at the Second World Water Forum has put their survival at risk. Four proposals in this vision are of great concern to Andean populations:
Reducing the amount of water in the agricultural sector by generalizing transgenic foods;
Reallocating water from uses of less value (family agriculture) to uses of greater value (large-scale agriculture, industry, and human consumption);
Relying on private investment to resolve water problems;
Charging for the total cost of water.
Advancement of the “Andean Vision” and the proposals generated are based on systematization of the state of the art in each Andean country and on case studies as a basis for regional systematization, articulated along with visions held by other indigenous peasants of the world. This document will try to advance policies of recognition and protection of indigenous water rights and culture worldwide as well as within the Andean governments themselves.
Appendices
CONDESAN mandate: research for development of the Andean ecoregion
CONDESAN supports multidisciplinary team research on trans-Andean themes. Some priority themes are: plans for promoting private investment, production systems, the high Andean páramo, soil biology, watershed management, and implementation of graduate studies related to systems of production and natural resource management. CONDESAN's philosophy is based on:
Application of research to improve rural development processes.
Permanent learning and evolution based on successful results.
Input of work in support of local priorities and ongoing processes.
Strengthening local capacity.
Promoting strategic alliances between actors to generate synergies.
Development and validation of instruments, methodologies, and policies based on fieldwork.
Appendix
Proposal for Action from the Andean Water Vision
How can the vision of indigenous farming communities in the Andes be respected, to strengthen their identity, assure their rights and conserve their natural resources? http://www.condesan.org/memoria/agua/VisionAgua.htm
Water as Common Patrimony
From the vision and experience of the Andean world, any plan of action with respect to water must be oriented to protect and conserve, guaranteeing its availability with fairness to assure the existence of all living beings on the planet. For that reason one must assure and protect water systems in their geographic setting as much as in their natural cycle, consensually agreeing to actions and mechanisms that maintain the integrity of the ecosystems, animal and vegetal species and the life of the communities with dignity and recreating their cultural identity.
Water as Public Domain
This principle implies the definition of water in the Constitutions as public property under the control of society as a whole. At the same time, mechanisms for fair use must be formulated that respond to the needs of nature and of the human communities, prioritizing the rights to subsistence, food sovereignty and local development.
Water as a Common Good not as Merchandise
Possession of water by the most dynamic sectors of economy is to the impairment of the majority of users and of nature itself. Therefore, nobody has the right to appropriate control of water for profit in detriment of the rest of the collectivity. Water is a vital resource that cannot be treated as a merchandise, reduced to commercial value and be submitted to the laws of the marketplace.
Revaluation of Andean Knowledge, Technologies and Organization
The knowledge of the Andean world, Andean technological and social systems of water management start from the principle of living together harmonically with Mother Earth, and are maintained in the collective property of water based on a legal and social system of their own.
Systems of Integrated and Participative Management
Systems of water management should be based on a concept of integrity, setting out from the territorial conception of watershed, of compatible uses and sustainability of the resource. Prioritization of water uses should be based on participative mechanisms that allow to guarantee conservation and fair access.
Participative Institutions and Social Control
Legislative norms and water management should guarantee the availability of water in terms of volume and quality, to assure the sustainability and needs of the ecosystems and communities. For that reason, governing systems in watersheds as well as the national level, should be based on existing local water authorities such as indigenous and peasant communities, associations of people who have water rights and the rest of water uses.
