On the occasion of the World Conservation Congress in Marseille, BIO-PLATEAUX took action to advance transboundary cooperation on the Maroni and Oyapock river basins shared between French Guiana, Suriname and Brazil.
In a steering committee of the project scheduled for September 7, authorities of the three territories took stock of the positive progress of cooperation for the management of water resources since the Cayenne Conference of November 2019. It includes in particular the creation and regular meeting of cross-border technical groups, exchanges of data and information that led to the creation of the shared platform www.bio-plateaux.org, the organization of awareness activities for the young people, cooperation on topics such as flood risk, water quality or drinking water. These activities have benefited from the financial support of the European Union, instructed by the Territorial Collectivity of Guyana (CTG).
The decision-makers looked ahead future activities and joint strategy towards the progressive creation of a transboundary Observatory. This work involves strengthening exchanges in terms of governance, knowledge, planning and actors' network on the territories.
On this occasion, an important partnership framework agreement for the hydrological monitoring of the Maroni River basin was signed signed between Mr. Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Overseas of the French Republic, and Mr. Riad Nurmohamed, Minister of Public Works of the Republic of Suriname. As part of the positive dynamics in the relations between Suriname and France, marked in March 2021 by the agreement on the delimitation of part of the border and the Joint Declaration for the management of the Maroni River, this partnership framework agreement aims to develop the monitoring of water resources on the river, and fight against the risk of flooding to better protect the population.
In addition, at technical level, a memorandum of understanding on the exchange of experiences between the Director of the National Water Agency (ANA) of Brazil, Oscar Cordeiro, and the Director of the International Office for Water (OiEau), Eric Tardieu, was signed. It aims to facilitate knowlsedge-sharing and technical cooperation between the institutions on topics such as water governance or planning.
Main partners of BIO-PLATEAUX at the IUCN Congress (presential and online) :
- The Minister of Overseas of the French Republic, Mr Sebastien Lecornu
- The Minister of Public Works of Suriname, Mr Riad Nurmohamed
- The President of the French Guiana Territorial Collectivity, Mr Jean-Paul Fereira
- The Governor of the State of Amapa in Brazil, Mr Antonio Waldez Goes Da Silva
- The Secretary General of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation, Ms Alexandra Moreira