With representatives from 22 Ibero-American countries present, the Declaration of Lima was adopted at the Seminar on national IWRM plans in the Ibero-American context held on 3rd and 4th March 2008. This Declaration urged nations to support and engage in IWRM planning and implementation, including through the establishment of a legal and institutional framework, and to strengthen capacity for financing water initiatives. The Lima Seminar, which had its roots in GWP proposals put forward in 2006, was hosted by the National Institute of Natural Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture of Peru (INRENA), with support from GWP, the Brazilian National Water Agency (ANA), the Community of Andean Nations (CAN), and the Spanish Ministry of Environment, which chairs the Ibero-American Conference of Directors of Water (CODIA). The event included GWP representatives from Central and South American countries. As a response to the commitments expressed in the Declaration, GWP and its partner, the EUWI Finance Working Group, intend to hold two water financing workshops in Central and South America. The Lima Seminar also helped to increase political will in El Salvador to develop a national IWRM plan. As well as having a regional impact, the Lima Declaration has also been important for IWRM in Peru. The Peruvian government created the National Water Authority on 13th March 2008 (just two weeks after the Lima Declaration was issued) as well as the National System of Water Resources in June 2008. These developments also followed on from a conference for legislators organised by GWP Peru with support from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in June 2007.
