{"id":1021,"date":"2014-09-17T20:45:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T20:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.auburn.edu\/aww\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2021-02-16T22:28:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T22:28:48","slug":"gww-highlighted-at-alabama-water-resources-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aaes.auburn.edu\/wrc\/gww-highlighted-at-alabama-water-resources-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"GWW highlighted at Alabama Water Resources Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s participants in the <\/span>28<\/span>th<\/span><\/sup><\/span> Annual Alabama Water Resources Conference, <\/span><\/i><\/span>www.aaes.auburn.edu\/water\/alabama-water-resources-conference<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0were treated to a presentation on the phenomenal success of Global Water Watch (GWW) in Mexico. GWW a program based at Auburn University, and GWW, Inc. an incorporated nonprofit organization, promote community-based watershed monitoring throughout the world, see <\/span>www.globalwaterwatch.org<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Click<\/p>\n

Click here to view Sergio’s Presentation<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Longtime Alabama Water Watch staffer and Associate Director of GWW, Sergio Ruiz-C\u00f3rdova gave an overview of how an AWW training at Auburn ten years ago has evolved into a community-based watershed stewardship program encompassing a major portion of Mexico (12 of 30 States). <\/span><\/p>\n

The effort was primarily supported through a five-year grant (2009-2013) from the USEPA Gulf of Mexico Program. The project, titled Fostering Environmental Stewardship of the Gulf of Mexico: A Trans-Boundary Network of Water Education and Monitoring for Animal Producers, Classrooms and Community Volunteers<\/i><\/span><\/span>, was funded through the EPA Gulf of Mexico Program\u2019s Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GoMA) Grant Program, and nick-named the <\/span>GWW-GoMA<\/span><\/i> Project (much easier to remember!). Primary goals of the GWW-GoMA Project were to foster awareness of Gulf of Mexico water quality issues, to expand water monitoring by training and certifying volunteer monitors, and to promote community-based watershed stewardship through various \u2018data-to-action\u2019 strategies. Project efforts focused in coastal river basins, including the Mobile River Basin in Alabama, and La Antigua Basin in Veracruz, Mexico. La Antigua Basin extends inland from the Gulf westward to 5,000-meter high mountains, and includes intensive agricultural lands, cattle farming, and upland forests. It is a major drainage into the Gulf of Mexico.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Workshops conducted using GWW training manuals and materials in English and Spanish, resulted in certification of over 2,500 volunteer monitors, empowering them to pursue stewardship activities in their local watersheds. Workshops with educators and teachers in Mexico helped to adapt AWW manuals and materials into Spanish versions. An online Directory of Environmental Centers in states in Mexico and the US that border the Gulf was also compiled, and is available to the public (see <\/span>http:\/\/www.globalwaterwatch.org\/GOMA\/EED\/EECD.html<\/span><\/span><\/a>). <\/span><\/p>\n

The GWW-GoMA Project has yielded thousands of water data records that volunteer monitors submit to the GWW database, which are accessible at the GWW webpage. Data have been used to remediate pollution problems and influence watershed management plans and water policy in both Alabama and several areas throughout Mexico. <\/span><\/p>\n

Project participants, including policy makers, educators and the general public, learned about the importance of taking a watershed approach to solving the complex problems in the Gulf of Mexico. In Mexico, GWW-GoMA leveraged projects that linked the community-based watershed stewardship activities with payment for environmental services. This paved the way for the participation of GWW- Mexico in other projects focused on watersheds draining to the Gulf of Mexico, including PROGRAMME FOR THE INTEGRAL RESTORATION OF THE NAOLINCO RIVER MICROCATCHMENT, VERACRUZ <\/i><\/span><\/span>(lead by Universidad Veracruzana<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>and funded by the National Council of Science and Technology\u2013CONACyT), <\/span>INNOVATIVE MECHANISMS FOR A COOPERATIVE PROGRAM FOR THE CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AT THE SIERRA MADRE AND COSTA OF CHIAPAS<\/span><\/i> (lead by INIFAP and funded by the <\/span>German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation\u2013GIZ), and COASTAL WATERSHEDS CONSERVATION IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE<\/i><\/span><\/span> (lead by the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change\u2013INECC in collaboration with the Mexican Fund for Nature Conservancy\u2013FMCN and other institutions and funded by the World Bank). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In conclusion: <\/span><\/p>\n