Transboundary Issues: Rio de Plata, Argentina/Uruguay
“The great crisis is not ecological, it is political (...). We have to realize that the water crisis and the aggression against the environment are not the cause. The cause is the model of civilization we have created. And what we have to review is our way of life.”
Major risks facing by the Río de la Plata (RdlP) Estuary against climate change and human pressures are sea level rise, coastal flooding linked to El Niño Southern Oscillation warm phase, which produces increased rainfall and river discharge, wind-induced storm surges, eutrophication and pollution (Venturini et al., 2024 and references therein). The RdlP includes bilateral waters and resources including a shared fishing zone and navigation channels between Argentina and Uruguay. Additionally, the entire La Plata Basin comprises ~ 150 million people distributed in five countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), and represents more than 75% of their gross domestic product. Management of these risks need long-term policies that consider the RdlP Estuary, but also La Plata Basin as socio-ecological systems from multiple-scales perspectives to address transboundary complex issues.
Figure 1: Storm surge at Montevideo City in September 2012, Photo Credit: Diario El País.
Figure 2: Flooding on the northwest coast of Uruguay in December 2015, Photo Credit: AFP Photo/ Diario El Telégrafo.
What would a UN Convention on River Deltas do?
Strengthen a multi-scale governance matrix (local, regional, national, international) with several actors (treaty bodies, ministries, academia, NGOs, etc.) in order to reduce governance gaps through enforcement, data sharing, funding and sustained stakeholder engagement (governments, private sector, civil society), also having as priority impact mitigation/adaptation strategies and inequalities among people.
Contributed by: Natalia Venturini Caballero, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
