The first meeting of the project “Strengthening the surveillance systems in hydraulic works in the region, through the use of nuclear techniques to estimate the impact of sedimentation as an environmental and social risk” was held in Havana, Cuba, sponsored by the International Organization Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in coordination with the Nuclear Energy and Advanced Technologies Agency (AENTA) and the Radiation Protection and Hygiene Center (CPHR).
The meeting is one of the activities of project RLA5076 of the Regional Cooperation Agreement for the Promotion of Nuclear Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean (ARCAL).
The objective of this project is to merge three nuclear techniques as tools to assess the sustainability of water resources and the loss of soils through degradation.
José Luis Peralta Vital, CPHR specialist and head of the project, said that one of the results will be a methodology that will allow to integrate these nuclear techniques and use them as tools to evaluate the sedimentation of soils. He argued that the project will allow developing guidelines for soil conservation and monitoring plans that will support agricultural and water resources institutions.
The meeting was attended by representatives of all the countries that are part of the project such as the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and Cuba. For the IAEA the meeting was coordinated by Ms. Magali Zapata Cazier, Program Management Officer (PMO).
The support of the IAEA has been fundamental in the development of capacities for the improvement of the environment and food security in the region. The joint actions of providing tools, training and sending of expert missions have allowed the countries to strengthen development plans and programs, as well as the formulation and evaluation of policies in the participating countries.
As part of her work schedule in Cuba, Ms. Magali Zapata Cazier, visited the Center for Environmental Studies of Cienfuegos (CEAC), to learn about the main advances and difficulties in the implementation of the RLA7020 project “Establishment of an Observation Network in the Caribbean for the acidification of the oceans and its impact on Harmful Algal Blossoming (FANs), using nuclear and isotopic techniques “;
She also reviewed the implementation of project RLA / 7022 “Strengthening regional surveillance and response for sustainable coastal marine environments (ARCAL CXLV)”.
