Looking to increase production but always caring for the environment and water (ENGLISH)

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Those were the conclusions that left the roundtable “Water, Sustainability and Climate Change”, in which the lectures were given by Walter Ohyantzábal, a specialist with the Office of Agricultural Planning and Scheduling Office (OPYPA in Spanish) for the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay, and his colleague Philip Martin, Executive Secretary of the National Irrigation Commission (CNR in Spanish) for the Ministry of Agriculture of Chile.

The Uruguayan official warned of the inexorable consequences that climate change will have on agriculture in the near future and the ways to make it possible. "This situation will face the farmers with one big challenge being it to increase their production while minimizing the effects on the environment and building resilience to climate change and its variability.”

Meanwhile, the Chilean official noted that "when it comes to the precipitation modification involving climate change, the region has the great advantage of having 30% of the planet’s total rainfall and 33% of the river run-off. Thus, Martin explained that “the problem is not volume but distribution and conservation of water so it can be used in a more efficient and equitable way." In this regard, the official also said that “governments should make a great management effort in order to reconcile the large number of rules and agencies with jurisdiction over water issues in each country. Moreover, governments should also work in the same direction to come up with multinational policies for the region."