Ecobreves – ARGENTINA : Communities to Monitor Clean-Up of Riachuelo River Basin

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 8 2012 (IPS) - Residents of the Matanza-Riachuelo river basin, the most polluted in Argentina, situated south of the country’s capital, will monitor the clean-up of the area through a community participation program. The program was launched by the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN) to promote civil society engagement in ensuring the enforcement of a court order obliging the authorities to clean up the river.

“The idea is for people to actively monitor and report on what is happening through the internet or mobile text messages. We will verify the reports and then upload them to an information platform,” environmental activist Andrés Napoli of FARN told Tierramérica.

The program is being financed by the European Union and includes training for journalists in the districts encompassed by the river basin and the adaptation of the electronic platform to facilitate its use.