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3rd Urban Training Programme takes place in Latin America

19 mid and high-ranking municipal officers from seven capital cities such as La Paz; Quito; Bogota, Tegucigalpa; San Salvador, Managua, and San José came to San Jose, Costa Rica, from 3 – 12 of December 2007 to attend the Urban Training Programme organised by UNU-EHS with the support of the Federation of Municipalities of the Central American Isthmus, FEMICA, and UNDP-BCPR.

The invited participants came from a professional municipal planning background such as water and sanitation; social welfare; development, environment, and disaster management. The seminar has been hosted by the Municipal District of Belén, one of the districts of the greater San José Metropolitan area.

Lectures and plenary sessions were complemented with field trips to critical areas in the Desamparados and Belen districts of San Jose, where participants observed damages to houses, private, and public infrastructure as a result of a torrential rainfall episodes that provoked major losses within the city. The field trips also allowed participants to dimension the problem of urban modification of the river channels and basins leading to rising flood levels such as the ones experienced in July and September of 2007. These floods destroyed many houses as well as some businesses and damaged a water aqueduct. The visits also allowed participants to view and discuss emergency measures carried out by Municipal authorities and by the National Emergency Commission of Costa Rica.

The workshop also included presentations by Dr Fabrice Renaud, Dr. Joern Birkmann, and Dr. Villagran de León of UNU-EHS on a variety of issues regarding vulnerability, environmental degradation, and risk management. Furthermore, the presentations and discussions allowed participants to identify similarities in the problems cities are facing, as well as risk management practices being carried out by different municipal divisions.

Group discussions and presentations of case studies by participants complemented the review of additional factors which are contributing to the increase of the level of risks, as well as institutional efforts to manage such risks. The workshop allowed participants to exchange experiences related to processes leading to risks, such as the occupation of areas situated on the shores or rivers and high slopes, as well as vulnerabilities arising as an outcome of social processes like migration from rural to urban areas; or limitations related to poverty and lack of experience.

The event concluded with a discussion focusing on strategies to continue the exchange of experiences, as well as the identification of potential case studies in both Central American and South American capital cities through efforts headed by UNDP, FEMICA, and UNU-EHS.