The 6th Latin American and Caribbean Conference on Sanitation held in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, had four strategic axes: i) Investment: innovative financing schemes in post-pandemic times; ii) Governance: Policies, Institutionalization and Planning; iii) Management and Innovation; and iv) Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM): One Water - Water for Life.
The commitments signed by the countries at the 6th LATINOSAN include the following:
Call upon States and international and multilateral agencies to allocate resources and promote capacity building and technology transfer through assistance and cooperation, particularly to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, in order to intensify efforts to provide adequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation for the entire population.
Exhort States to guarantee the progressive fulfillment of the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation for all in an inclusive manner, eliminating inequalities in access, particularly for indigenous peoples, local communities, Afro-descendants, and other vulnerable groups, excluding any type of discrimination based on gender, age, different abilities, disability, cultural identity, religion, economic condition, or any other reason.
Progressively eliminate open defecation by adopting policies, plans, programs and projects to increase access to sanitation with safety and privacy in the use of services, particularly for people who are vulnerable or marginalized, with safety and privacy in the use of services.
Promote the implementation of good hygiene practices to improve the quality of life and public health, with social and territorial equity in access to basic sanitation, especially in peri-urban and rural areas, as well as culturally adapted strategies that integrate a gender approach.
Strengthen the implementation of the Water and Sanitation Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OLAS) to make it fully operational so that it becomes the regional benchmark in the management of comparable information and knowledge on drinking water and sanitation, strengthening national capacities for information generation and analysis.
Incorporate plans for adaptation and risk management in the face of climate change, to favor the protection of water sources for human consumption and facilitate infrastructure that promotes sustainability and resilience, ensuring risk management for the climate crisis, to detect possible threats and protect accessibility to drinking water, sanitation and wastewater reuse, especially in rural and peri-urban areas.
