Latin American MAR Community of Practice (LatinMAR)

In May 2019 during the International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge 10, delegates from Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, México and Perú initiated the formation of a working group to establish a Community of Practice for managed aquifer recharge in the Latin American region. One of the first objectives identified by the Community of Practice was to further the work led by Dr. José Bonilla (Costa Rica), to update the global MAR inventory on the IGRAC platform with details of projects in Latin America.

LATINMAR Community of Practice meeting at Santiago, Chile (August 2019)

As a result of these discussions and follow up communications, a second meeting was convened in Santiago de Chile supported by the Council on Australia Latin America Relations to formally establish a “Latin American Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) Community of Practice ” (LatinMAR) with the overarching goal to:

“Establish a mechanism to promote managed aquifer recharge interdisciplinary participation focused on project development, execution and knowledge transfer in Latin America”.

The proposed LatinMAR Community of Practice has the following specific objectives:

1. Develop teaching and training programs and research projects on MAR in Latin America.
2. Communicate potential funding or collaboration opportunities.
3. Document progress and experiences on the implementation of MAR
   projects regionally.
4. Establish a mechanism to promote MAR interdisciplinary and community
   participation in Latin America for capacity development and the execution of
   projects that solve problems in the region.
5. Update the current inventory of MAR projects in Latin America on the
   IGRAC platform.
6. Promote and organize biennial MAR conferences and colloquiums in
   different locations in Latin America.
7. Create and disseminate the results of developing and long-term MAR
   activities and projects in Latin America through publications and cultural programs.

We propose that the LatinMAR Community of Practice be represented by the foundational steering committee composed of representatives of different Latin American countries and a coordinator, each serving 2 years. We propose the following activities and actions to establish the operation of LatinMAR Community of Practice:

• Prepare general guidelines, criteria, objectives and functionality of the proposed LatinMAR Community of Practice.
• Support the fulfilment of the objectives and functionality of the LatinMAR Practice.
• Get funding to develop and implement an annual LatinMAR Community of Practice work plan.
• Get funding to prepare an annual report of LatinMAR activities and actions.
• Establish an annual LatinMAR calendar of meetings.

The initiators of the Latin American MAR Community of Practice (LatinMAR) are:

• Adriana Palma, Coordinator, representative Mexico (email: APalmaN@iingen.unam.mx)
• José Pablo Bonilla Valverde, representative Costa Rica
• Roberto Navarro, representative Peru
• Tatsuo Shubo, representative Brazil
• Santiago Matta, representative Chile
• Edmundo Claro, CSIRO Chile (Technical Consultant)

Updates

First online seminar on “Managed aquifer recharge in Latin America: Experiences and challenges” organised by the MAR Community of Practice in Latin America (LatinMAR)

On 15 October 2020, the Latin American Community of Practice on MAR (LatinMAR) will organise the first online seminar on “Managed aquifer recharge in Latin America: Experiences and challenges”. The programme will include presentations of MAR practices in Mexico, Chile and Argentina, as well as a virtual tour of the infiltration lagoons and wetland in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico. Language of the seminar will be Spanish. Download the event programme.