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policy levels. Another major aim of the project is to promote inter-sectoral dialogue
and generates concrete examples for the integration of biodiversity into agriculture
with several spillovers (IKI Alliance México 2018).
In theme of capacity building, the efforts carried out for years by the Instituto
Mora of Mexico City, an institution that is part of CONACYT, the Mexican national
center of researches, deserve mention. Initially, a training manual was produced on
EM in development cooperation projects, dedicated to practitioners, also suitable
for local administrators, with numerous application examples focused on the reality
of LAC (Zortea and Lucatello 2016). Subsequently a presential training event was
promoted. Finally, a special capacity building path was also launched in online
mode, again on the EM applied to sustainable development projects.
Many thematic areas are known and studied in LAC for which there is a significant interaction of various environmental components, both with each other and
with the social and economic components. Just think of the mining sector, where
“hydrocarbon processing and mining operations demand variable amounts of water
and energy and can severely affect the environment and the quality of water
resources” (ECLAC 2018). That interconnection has great relevance in almost all
the region, but particularly in the mining countries of the Andean zone, Brazil,
Mexico, Venezuela, and some of the Central American nations. For the hydrocarbon
sector, the relationship can be particularly pronounced when large-scale hydraulic
fracturing is located in areas where water is scarce, such as northern Mexico.
Another area very significant for these interconnections, especially in the drylands, is the withdrawal of aquifers for irrigation purposes. The growing importance
of groundwater and dependence is common particularly in Central America and
Mexico, where it accounts for 65% of all the water used, and in the deserts and
semideserts of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, and Peru. The rise in
intensive exploitation and contamination of aquifers is interconnected with the three
components of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: it impacts water quantity and quality,
removes land from production, and increases the energy cost for its extraction.
A relevant example of interlinkage between different sectoral policies is that of
agricultural and energy policies: subsidies for energy production favor a lower
energy cost and therefore an increase in the use of plants for the exploitation of
aquifers for agricultural irrigation purposes. But this in turn causes over- exploitation
and greater environmental damages, which—especially for arid areas—often end in
the deterioration of both the ecosystems and the living conditions for resident populations (ECLAC 2018).
An Interesting Case Study from Chile
In Chile it is estimated that the desert will advance from 0.4 to 1 km per year, having
as main causes climatic changes that accentuate the aridity of the territory, as well
as inadequate and persistent human activities, overgrazing and erosion. Facing this
scenario, it is essential to enhance the resilience of communities in drylands. Fog
19 Governing Drylands Through Environmental Mainstreaming: How to Cope…
policy levels. Another major aim of the project is to promote inter-sectoral dialogue
and generates concrete examples for the integration of biodiversity into agriculture
with several spillovers (IKI Alliance México 2018).
In theme of capacity building, the efforts carried out for years by the Instituto
Mora of Mexico City, an institution that is part of CONACYT, the Mexican national
center of researches, deserve mention. Initially, a training manual was produced on
EM in development cooperation projects, dedicated to practitioners, also suitable
for local administrators, with numerous application examples focused on the reality
of LAC (Zortea and Lucatello 2016). Subsequently a presential training event was
promoted. Finally, a special capacity building path was also launched in online
mode, again on the EM applied to sustainable development projects.
Many thematic areas are known and studied in LAC for which there is a significant interaction of various environmental components, both with each other and
with the social and economic components. Just think of the mining sector, where
“hydrocarbon processing and mining operations demand variable amounts of water
and energy and can severely affect the environment and the quality of water
resources” (ECLAC 2018). That interconnection has great relevance in almost all
the region, but particularly in the mining countries of the Andean zone, Brazil,
Mexico, Venezuela, and some of the Central American nations. For the hydrocarbon
sector, the relationship can be particularly pronounced when large-scale hydraulic
fracturing is located in areas where water is scarce, such as northern Mexico.
Another area very significant for these interconnections, especially in the drylands, is the withdrawal of aquifers for irrigation purposes. The growing importance
of groundwater and dependence is common particularly in Central America and
Mexico, where it accounts for 65% of all the water used, and in the deserts and
semideserts of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, and Peru. The rise in
intensive exploitation and contamination of aquifers is interconnected with the three
components of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: it impacts water quantity and quality,
removes land from production, and increases the energy cost for its extraction.
A relevant example of interlinkage between different sectoral policies is that of
agricultural and energy policies: subsidies for energy production favor a lower
energy cost and therefore an increase in the use of plants for the exploitation of
aquifers for agricultural irrigation purposes. But this in turn causes over- exploitation
and greater environmental damages, which—especially for arid areas—often end in
the deterioration of both the ecosystems and the living conditions for resident populations (ECLAC 2018).
An Interesting Case Study from Chile
In Chile it is estimated that the desert will advance from 0.4 to 1 km per year, having
as main causes climatic changes that accentuate the aridity of the territory, as well
as inadequate and persistent human activities, overgrazing and erosion. Facing this
scenario, it is essential to enhance the resilience of communities in drylands. Fog
19 Governing Drylands Through Environmental Mainstreaming: How to Cope…