OPORTUNIDADES Y NEGOCIOS CHILE - SUIZA

Brasil: El Banco de Desarrollo de Brasil (BNDES)
ofrece incentivos gubernamentales para aquellas
empresas que adopten y divulguen las mejores
prácticas en el uso del agua.
México: En 2013, el Presidente Enrique Peña
Nieto lanzó un programa nacional contra la sequía
(PRONACOSE) supervisado por la comisión
nacional de agua (CONAGUA). La iniciativa incluye
mecanismos de monitoreo de la sequía y mediciones
destinadas a prevenir o mitigar las sequías de las
cuencas hídricas. Otros países ya están haciendo lo
mismo, entre ellos Brasil y Turquía.
Perú: En 2014 se convirtió en el primer país de
América Latina en implementar una Unidad de
Prevención y Gestión de Conflictos Sociales (UPGC)
dependiente de la Autoridad Nacional del Agua
(ANA) para identificar y resolver los conflictos
relacionados con el uso del agua. Aunque aún es
prematuro evaluar el éxito de esta unidad, ya se
encuentra trabajando con los sectores de la
minería y la energía.
Oportunidades de Negocios:
Las empresas tienen múltiples oportunidades
para anticiparse a la escasez de agua y consolidar
una ventaja competitiva a tiempo. Para ello,
deberán tener en cuenta las siguientes
recomendaciones:
• Considerar los incentivos fiscales y otros
mecanismos para fomentar el uso responsable del
agua (como el ejemplo del BNDES en Brasil).
• Educar a los ciudadanos sobre la gravedad de la
escasez de agua y la necesidad de reducir el consumo
diario.
• Algunas industrias (extractivas e hídricas) pueden
apoyar programas públicos de monitoreo y
prevención de sequías que permitan fomentar el
desarrollo y aprovechar las mejores prácticas
internacionales.
• Reforzar la seguridad de los principales
suministros de agua (lagos, pantanos, etc.)
ubicados alrededor de las zonas de operaciones
mediante rigurosos programas de conservación.
• Asociarse para reducir las pérdidas de agua en las
ciudades a través de controles estrictos y una
mayor eficiencia en el mantenimiento de la
infraestructura.
WATER SCARCITY IN LATIN AMERICA
Latin America is world renowned for some of its
majestic landscapes, rich biodiversity, and plenty of
natural resources. The region is also quite rightly
known for its abundance of water (over 30% of the
planet’s freshwater).
Local governments have recognized the importance
that water can have in creating conditions for
economic growth and in the reduction of poverty. But
climate change, persistently poor infrastructure, and
inefficient water use for irrigation and urban supply
have led to a mounting water scarcity problem in the
region that has sparked social tensions between
communities, governments, and businesses.
Water Stress
A 2014 study by the World Bank found that Latin
American and the Caribbean are to expect longer
droughts and extreme weather as effects of global
climate change such as the recent floods in Chile’s
Atacama Desert. For example, rising temperatures will
reduce the regular build-up of glacier ice in the Andes
and the meltwater that some 50 million people in the
low-land farms and cities rely on.
These changes have not gone without consequences.
The region has already seen a rise of social conflicts
whose root cause is water access, allocation, and
contamination. Competition amongst vital sectors
including agriculture, industry, mining, urban water
supply, and natural reserves, will increase significantly
as the region’s economic development continues.
80-years and other dense urban areas have brought
the issue to a fore, as citizens have had to put up with
de facto water rationing for months. Sao Paulo city,
Latin America’s largest and most populous city of 20
million inhabitants, has seen its reservoirs’ fall to
one-digit levels. In Rio de Janeiro, the four reservoirs in
the Paraiba system – which is the main source of the
city’s tap water – dropped to their lowest level in
history – about 1%.
By January 2015, at least 93 cities in Brazil had imposed
water rationing, affecting millions. Protests erupted
outside of Sao Paulo when thousands called on the
government to put an end to rationing. The
government, mired in corruption scandals and the run
up to carnival, did little to ease the situation.
Inefficient Water Use: From Irrigation to Urban
Utilities
Irrigation plays an important role in increasing
agricultural production, but many countries of the
region have levels of irrigation efficiency that range
between 30% and 40%. Expansion of irrigation areas
has grown and larger urban populations will add
pressure to relocate water for agricultural purposes to
drinking water supply in cities. For example, 80% of
Peru’s water use is agricultural, with known
inefficiencies, but the country is looking to expand
production of water guzzling asparagus and other
crops despite frequent droughts along its populous
Pacific coast.
• Interactuar en forma proactiva con múltiples
grupos de interés para fomentar el uso
responsable de los recursos hídricos a fin de
generar consciencia e identificar las áreas
prioritarias de trabajo y cooperación mutua.
• Implementar campañas relacionadas con el
problema del agua para fomentar asociaciones
significativas entre el sector público y el sector
privado, que permitan compartir las mejores
prácticas y no se agoten en meras conversaciones.
• Las empresas que prevén conflictos sociales
pueden afianzar y garantizar el consenso social
mediante la implementación de innovaciones en
esta área y la comunicación efectiva con los
principales grupos de interés.
This has struck extractive industries in particular. It is
not uncommon for mining or hydroelectric companies
to be in conflict with local communities over water use.
In the Peruvian Andes, where glacial ice has receded
rapidly in just 25 years, mining companies are being
blamed for excessive or irresponsible water
consumption that has resulted in shrinking lakes,
disappearing watersheds, or the contamination of
water sources that remote rural communities rely on
for survival.
Social tensions arising from water scarcity have also hit
Latin America’s highly populated urban centres.
Populations in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico have
all recently experienced droughts and water rationing.
The most dramatic case to date has been Brazil. The
current drought in Sao Paulo state — the worst in
In Latin America’s urban areas, aging water
infrastructure, insufficient investments, and
inadequate regulatory frameworks pose key
challenges to the water sector. The quality of service is
mediocre and poor infrastructure causes high water
losses that reach about 40% in the large cities and up
to almost 75% in some extreme cases, according to the
UN.
Other studies have pointed to the overall inefficiency of
big urban water utilities, which do not have the
necessary economies of scale or density despite their
size and some privatization efforts. In Brazil, where the
private sector’s participation has increased over the
past decade, the main water companies are still publicly
owned. And in the absence of well-defined regulatory
policies, privatization did not lead to greater efficiency.
30 CÁMARA CHILENO-SUIZA DE COMERCIO
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