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The Rain Harvester |
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By Yadira Ferrer*
Tierramérica
had a question-and-answer session with Colombian environmentalist
Rodrigo Vivas, winner of the Sasakawa Prize for his contribution
to the fight against desertification.
BOGOTA, Nov 6 (Tierramérica) - Colombian lawyer
and activist Rodrigo Vivas won the 2006 Sasakawa Prize, awarded
annually by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and
the Nippon Foundation, for his "rainwater harvest" project, to combat
desertification.
The award, which includes a 200,000-dollar prize, is one of the
most prestigious environmental laurels in the world. Vivas received
the Sasakawa Prize on Oct. 30 in a ceremony in New York, sharing
it with the Tenadi Cooperative, of Mauritania.
Growing up with parents and grandparents who were farmers in the
southwestern town of Poayán, Vivas, 36, describes himself as a man
of the countryside who is obsessed with water conservation.
The obsession emerged three years ago when his nine-year-old son
was sent home from school because there was no water, and the teachers
feared that unsanitary conditions at the school might trigger an
epidemic.
"The lord of the rains", as his friends call him, created the non-governmental
Fundación Acción Ambiental (Environmental Action Foundation) six
years ago, focusing on local issues. The foundation works with farmers
to encourage protection of biodiversity, proper water management,
food security efforts and strengthening of community organizations.
Vivas is also executive director of the Consortium for Sustainable
Hillside Agriculture, CIPASLA, which is active in 23 rural districts
of the Andean region of Colombia.
Tierramérica spoke by phone with Vivas, at the CIPASLA headquarters,
in Popayán.
Q: What does it mean to you to have won the Sasakawa Prize?
A: Winning it reaffirms my personal commitment and my commitment
to the communities in my country to build a better life, and it
is recognition for the hundreds of families that now value the development
and strengthening of a culture of collecting and making best use
of rainwater. Water is a universal right and a public good that
should not be privatized. Rural communities, who ensure the country's
food security, have the right to take advantage of rainwater to
satisfy the demands of family farming and all possible uses.
Q: How did the "rainwater harvest" project come about?
A: Ever since I was a boy, I learned from my grandfather -- a humble
farmer -- to love, respect and take care of water. And thanks to
the exchange of experiences we have had in the last four years,
I consider it necessary to promote in Colombia an alternative project
for supplying rainwater in arid and semi-arid rural zones, like
there are in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia.
Q: What is the scope of the project?
A: The goal is to establish 500 tanks throughout Colombia to supply
rainwater. We are starting with 40 municipalities and we hope to
replicate it in others, turning it into a national policy.
Q: Why is it important to collect rainwater?
A: The dominant economic model in Latin America is unsustainable
in ecological and water terms. The world is reaching an extreme
situation in the waste and destruction of water sources. There is
practically no human activity that shouldn't be reformulated if
the species wants to survive its own environmental irrationality.
The extractive and transformative industries, agriculture, trade,
services, urban and architectural planning, the consumption patterns
and even our personal hygiene habits must be rethought in order
to prevent a not-so-far-off exhaustion of water supplies. For these
reasons, fighting poverty and desertification is the duty of everyone.
Q: What message do you want to communicate to the international
community as you receive this prize?
A: That we should organize ourselves as civil society in defense
of water, supported by national and international political leaders.
* Yadira Ferrer is a Tierramérica contributor. |
