Cambridge, MA - The Mesoamerican Alliance for Water was recently launched at a historic gathering convened by EcoLogic Development Fund of Cambridge, MA, to promote water conservation in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and Costa Rica.

The International Workshop on Watershed Management and Payment for Ecosystem Services drew representatives from the region to San Lucas Tolimán, Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, for 5 days to share best practices and lessons learned from their experiences in community-led conservation. Participations included representatives of SATIIM and Yax Che Conservation Trust from Belize, FUPNAPIB and PROLANSATE from Honduras, ProNatura Veracruz and CRESIG from Mexico, in addition to the Central American Freshwater Action Network (FAN-CA), the Honduran Forest Service (AFE-COHDEFOR) as well as MAMUCA, an alliance of Mayors from five municipalities in Honduras.

Together these local organizations are working to conserve, protect and regenerate more than 5 million acres in threatened areas of globally significant bio-diversity, which is also the source of water for more than 6 million people.

"We sought to bring together some of the most effective organizations in the region to share best practices in water stewardship, but this event far surpassed our expectation. Along with our partners and allies from the region, we have now taken the lead to create a new regional alliance to further durable solutions rooted in poor rural communities that provide a meaningful response to the mounting global water crisis," said Shaun Paul, EcoLogic's co-founder and executive director.

The formation of strategic alliances to further common goals was central to the success of the convening. Strong consensus emerged that forming an alliance would be a useful way of supporting each other, and other organizations doing similar work throughout the region, which led to framework for the establishment of the Mesoamerican Water Alliance or Alianza Mesoamericana del Agua (AMA).

For more information about the Mesoamerican Alliance for Water and EcoLogic Development Fund, please visit www.ecologic.org or call 617-441-6300.

Click here to view the text of the Atitlan Declaration

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