WSPC12525

• File Number: 8282.400
• Description: Colorado River Operations and Accounting - Deliveries to Mexico
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 9/11/2001
• Author: Unknown
• Title: Colorado River Delta Symposium - United States-Mexico - Mexicali-Baja California - Symposium Report - Reviewed Copy with Staff Notes- 09-11-01
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

002242

the United States while recognizing and preserv-
ing this vital ecological habitat within the Delta.
In thinking about opportunities for protecting
the ecological values in the Delta, we want to -
encourage and support exploration of programs
in Mexico that can focus on innovative actions to
effectively stretch existing supplies. Of course,
any such actions would have to be accomplished
consistent with the principles for this important
effort that I mentioned a moment ago. I recog-
nize and look forward to the fact that various
approaches will be advanced in further bi-
national technical discussions.
Working through the IBWC, our two nations
can and should fashion a cooperative effort. Let
me add, we will fashion a cooperative effort. ~
can and want to be hel ful in a variety of ways,
a~d scientific expertise is only one 0 t e re-
sources we can potentially contribute..!o such bi-
riafional cooperative efforts. -
"the ecological values cl the Delta are extraor-
---
dinary, supporting hundreds of thousands of
shore birds and waterfowl as well as providing
habitat for a number of endangered species of
animals, fish and plants. The Delta region also
has great significance for indigenous peop!e as a
fishery and as an emerging destination for
tourism.
...----
We also recognize the pressing demands
imposed by the growing population in the
region, a trend that demands significant atten-
tion on both sides of our border. We are ready
and willing to work together with the Mexican
government and interested stakeholders to seek
solutions that are right for the Delta in accord
with our long-standing commitments, both
national and international. Thank you.

ALBERTO SZEKELY
ADVISOR TO THE SECRETARY OF
FOREIGN RELATIONS (VERBATIM):
Because of several positions I have held, I
have had to monitor the Colorado River Delta
issue and I have always been concerned about
the slowness with which the governments of

both countries have responded to the demands
of an ecosystem that needs prompt attention. I
count myself among those who responded to
Act 306 of the IBWC with a certain degree of
exasperation, when I felt that with said Act we
were not able to get past the purely academic
phase, because it needs to be understood that we
need immediate and effective measures, Thus,
r-
my connection with this subject is thiough many
of you who are participating in this Symposium
and at the same time with those of you who
come from different areas. This is why I am
especially pleased to be able to state, in the name
of the Department of Foreign Relations of
Mexico, the resolve of our country to give an
ac.tive push to our perception of the problem of
the ~olorado River Delta, and to begin acting in
a pragmatic and immediate manner.
The defeat of the Harmon Doctrine - men-
tioned so often when talking about the Interna-
.'
tional Law of international watercourses - has as
an inevitable corollary in the shared responsibil-
ity of the states along any course of water and
this is not only true with respect to the fair
distribution and the different reasonable uses of
the water of these international watercourses.
Thanks to the advances in International Law,
such as the one registered in 1995 in the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Use of
International Watercourses for Purposes other
than Navigation, the environment began to be
seen as another user in the International Fluvial
Law (the international rivers law), different in a
way from the states along the watercourses and
the traditional users. The dramatic unfolding -
especially during the decades of the seventies
and eighties - of Environmental International
Law, started to influence the international
standards of law of this new concept that
resulted in Rio Conference: The Concept of
Sustainability, which comes very much to mind
now that we are discussing the Colorado River
Delta. The way in which this Basin is being used
has a lot to do with the possible solutions to the
water requirements for the survival of the
Colorado River Delta.

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COLORAIXl
RIvER DELTA
HI-NATIONAL
SYMPOSIUM
PROCEEDL'lGS

ENGLISH
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