Ecologically sustainable water management: role of the academy to face the development? pressures and challenges - experiences in Chile

The experience of the earthquake and tsunami of February 27, 2010 revealed a variety of shortcomings in ensuring the safety of the population, urban centers, coastal areas and land-use situations, which resulted in the loss of many lives and extensive damage to urban infrastructure and economic productivity, with signifi cant social impact. Because of its complex geography and the permanent risk of natural disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and torrential river fl oods), as well vulnerability to climate change, Chile represents important academic challenges to defi ne research programs to provide preventive and mitigating actions to address this reality. It must be added that interventions with large-scale projects (hydropower, irrigation channels, civil works in areas with river fl ooding and along the coastline) as well as the intensive exploitation of natural resources (water, soil and vegetation) combine to form a complex environmental situations that is diffi cult to understand and manage. In response to this situation, the University of Concepcion through its Research Offi ce created the Reconstruction Program, composed of working groups in various fi elds to analyze the consequences of the seismic event and tsunami and develop proposals to address the reconstruction measures for the region, as well as to develop new approaches and tools to face this reality. From the academic point of view, this represents opportunities for international collaboration, both for scientifi c research and post-graduate studies.