What is UNESCO-HidroEX?
UNESCO-HidroEX is an International Center for Education, Capacity-Building and Applied Research in Water Foundation, having public law legal personality, indefinite duration, headquarters and jurisdiction in the municipal district of Frutal (MG) and being subordinate to the Minas Gerais State Department for Science, Technology and Higher Education – SECTES. It aims to implement programs of excellence in water education, research and capacity development related to the protection and sustainable management of water resources, pursuant to the guidelines established in the UNESCO’s International Hydrological Program, through national and international actions.
Why UNESCO-HidroEX was established?
UNESCO-HidroEX was established by the Minas Gerais State Government with the purpose of contributing to resolving the burgeoning water crises that threatens the world as a whole, with a special focus on Latin America and Portuguese-speaking Africa, by helping to train the next generation of water leaders, promising a time when water resources are shared in an equitable fashion and managed in a sustainable context.
What is UNESCO’s City of Waters?
UNESCO’s City of Waters is the name of the bold project that is being implemented in the municipal district of Frutal, in the state of Minas Gerais (Brazil), which aims at creating a large educational complex geared to water resources. This proposal results from the presence of UNESCO-HidroEX Institute – Center for Education, Capacity-Building and Applied Research in Water Foundation in Frutal. After the establishment of UNESCO-HidroEX, other educational and research institutions joined the project and are now implementing in Frutal a cluster of centers for advanced studies. All of these institutions operating in the UNESCO’s City of Waters are focused on and committed to the management, protection and recovery of surface and groundwater, as well as the education and capacity development of a new generation of leaders in water management. As partners of this cluster there are renowned national and international research institutions and universities, which carry out their work in accordance with a strategic planning common to all of them.
What are UNESCO-HidroEX’s main goals?
- Strengthen the regional policies aimed at the sustainable development of water resources;
- Develop its scientific program based on the regional reality and pursuant to the guidelines established in the International Hydrological Program;
- Train regional actors as well as actors from the countries where it may operate about water issues;
- Promote and carry out actions on environmental education aimed at the sustainable development within the regions it may operate;
- Become a center of excellence in water resources for Latin America and Portuguese-speaking countries.