Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, the consultation in Paraguay took place in a virtual setting in two parts, with 94 key water actors participating - representing government, academia, civil society, research institutes, local and binational basin commissions.
In the first part, contextual presentations and processes on the subject were shared. The Ministry of the Environment of Paraguay hosted the session, led by the Director of Water Resources and Focal Point for this indicator, David Fariña and his committed team. Fariña shared the history of the process in Paraguay, which was started in 2017 when the first consultation in the country was held. Fariña presented the baseline and results and answered questions regarding the progress made in the different work areas.
An excellent panel of high-level global experts gave a vision of the various dimensions of the indicator at different levels: Senator Juan Afara, a member of the National Defense and Natural Resources Commission; Hydrologist Miguel Doria, UNESCO representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, José Francisco Manjarrez, IDB Sector Specialist, and Kilian Christ, representing the UN Environment Programme UNEP. Alejandra Mujica, Regional Coordinator of GWP South America, was in charge of the moderation who achieved very focused, clear and precise responses from the representatives of regional and global institutions.
Carlos Martìnez, GWP LAC Consultant on SDG 6, and Marcelo Farro from GWP South America provided the attendees with the conceptual and logistics dynamics of the platform respectively.
The second part of the consultation was held on August 6, with the participation of all attendees in four parallel discussion groups of two hours, following the four dimensions set out by UNEP protocols: 1) enabling environment, 2) institutions and participation, 3) management instruments and 4) financing.
59 guests participated. At the end of the plenary session, each group presented their definitions and the number - the degree of progress - that they attributed to each block of questions posed. In the event that any of the definitions presented founded opposition from other actors, a second vote was taken on that question by the entire audience.
The participants appreciated the organisation and the possibility of participating. Some of them stated in the chat that it was a very transparent, organised and useful exercice. The result of this participatory consultation will be submitted by the Government of Paraguay to UNEP.