UN Water Conference: Scope for Transfer of Knowledge in Its Action Plan

The United Nations Water Conference, held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, from March 14 to 25, 1977, adopted a set of detailed action recommendations on various aspects of water resources development and management and decided that this set of recommendations be known as the Mar del Plata Action Plan. After briefly introducing the action plan, this paper discusses some of the scope and challenges posed by the transfer of knowledge. Problems were discussed in relation to the requirements for human resources development, the needs for the management of water for agriculture and community supplies, and technical cooperation among developing countries in the field of water resources. Needs cound not be met without proper and parallel consideration of the pertinent requirements for the other components of the action plan, including assessment, industrial use, environment and pollution control, flood and drought loss management, and the management of shared water resources.