A flooded street in Honda, Colombia after heavy rains caused the Magdelena river to overflow its banks (Flickr: Policía Nacional de los colombianos)

PANAMA, 25 January, 2017 - Rivers run through many cities in Latin America that have joined UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient Campaign, and management of these rivers brought three of those cities together last month to carry out a reality check.

Representatives from the municipalities and civil society organizations of Santo Tomé, Argentina, Santa Ana, El Salvador, and Dosquebradas, Colombia, met in Panama to discuss their year-long efforts to encourage community participation in risk reduction and climate change adaptation efforts.

Daniela Quésta, Mayor of Santo Tomé, explained that her city of 60,000 inhabitants is highly vulnerable to flooding, due to its location near the Salado and Paraná Rivers. These floods bring pressing problems to dwellings and other urban infrastructure.

Milton Reyes, representative of Santa Ana said that the floods are causing serious problems in his city, mainly triggered by land use changes in the upper river basin as coffee plantations have been replaced by cement constructions that prevent the natural absorption of rainwater by the soil.

Julián Carrizosa, from the Municipality of Dosquebradas, noted that the high vulnerability of homes in many areas of Dosquebradas is aggravated by the poor management of solid waste and debris by residents, who improperly dispose of such items in the river bed causing water pollution and increased risk of flooding.

A report on the workshop by the Climate Knowledge and Development Network (CDKN), stated that in each city, the team led by Jorgelina Hardoy (IIED Latin America), Ebru Gencer (CUDRR + R) and Manuel Winograd (Alterra) and their partners generated specific, tangible proposals that have been analysed and validated by the respective communities and the public sector.