PLACA and GWP publish technical report on water use efficiency indicators and level of water stress in Latin America and the Caribbean

El reporte técnico «Apoyo a la generación de información, reporte y seguimiento de los indicadores 6.4.1 y 6.4.2 en la región de América Latina y el Caribe,» proporciona conclusiones sobre el cálculo y uso de los indicadores de la meta 6.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals. The document highlights initiatives that can improve the characterisation of the agricultural sector in each country, as well as information on water use efficiency and water scarcity levels in the region.

22 July 2024. The Platform of Latin America and the Caribbean for Climate Action on Agriculture (PLACA) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) Central America published a technical report entitled "Support to the generation of information, reporting and monitoring of indicators 6.4.1 and 6.4.2 in the Latin American and Caribbean region".

The report addresses Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 is to "Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation", through target 6.4 which states "By 2030, significantly increase the efficient use of water resources in all sectors and ensure sustainability of freshwater withdrawals and supplies to address water scarcity and significantly reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity".  

This report includes the findings and analysis of the results of a consultative process that gathered information on the knowledge, experience and expertise of professionals and experts from the agricultural sector regarding initiatives, strategies, management mechanisms and information use of water resources in agriculture from the perspective of indicators 6.4.1 and 6.4.2.

The structure of the technical report is composed of four chapters. The first chapter examines, from the perspective of key actors in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), aspects associated with inter-institutional coordination, the use of information and strategies applied by them in the areas of water, climate and agriculture. The second chapter discusses, based on the views of actors from different countries, aspects related to how the indicators of SDG 6.4 target are constructed, the challenges that have been encountered as a result of the different contexts and the opportunities for their use in decision-making. The third chapter examines a group of issues that allow water efficiency to be addressed through initiatives that can be implemented in LAC. Finally, the fourth chapter presents the main conclusions and recommendations.

It is through this technical report that conclusions are drawn regarding the calculation and use of the indicators of target 6.4 and the existence of initiatives that can influence the improvement of the characterisation of the agricultural sector in each country, as well as information on the efficiency of water use and the levels of scarcity. It is also concluded that in the countries there are initiatives that can support the generation of better-quality information for the reporting of indicators 6.4.1 and 6.4.2, including inter-institutional coordination mechanisms, monitoring and water planning at the basin level, as well as systems for the registration and control of abstractions and the use of satellite information.

Read the technical report here: Support to the generation of information, reporting and monitoring of indicators 6.4.1 and 6.4.2 in the LAC region.