Climate Change Knowledge Sharing Course in Paraguay – September 2013

September 22, 2013 Field Trips, Workshops Comments Off on Climate Change Knowledge Sharing Course in Paraguay – September 2013 3,966 Views

INESAD received a small grant from IDRC to carry out a Knowledge Sharing course at CADEP in Asunción, Paraguay in September 2013. The course was a more in-depth version of the Climate Change Impact Evaluation course that we had already held in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador earlier this year, and included both an on-line part, a traditional course, and research coaching. Here is most of the group and most of the INESAD trainers on the last day of the traditional course:

CursoAsuncion19092013Web1_s — Group photo from the Knowledge Sharing course on Climate Change Impacts organized by INESAD and CADEP with guest participants from the Government of Paraguay.

Here is the photo that CADEP published about the course:

CursoAsuncion19092013CADEP — Climate Change Impact Evaluation Knowledge Sharing course at CADEP in Paraguay, September 2013

After successful completion of the course, the INESAD trainers had 24 hours for sightseeing, and we manged to make the most of those 24 hours! We skipped two nights at the hotel (and two nights of sleep) and used the money and time saved to get ourselves to Foz de Iguazu in Brazil to see (and feel!) the World’s biggest waterfalls and the World’s biggest hydroelectric facility. Below are some photos from the trip.

Iguazu20092013_e_s — Luis Carlos, Lykke and Oscar at the Iguazu waterfalls on the border between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.

Iguazu20092013_a_s — The Iguazu Falls are best experienced by boat. Here are Luis Carlos, Oscar and Lykke ignorant about how wet they are going to get very soon.

Iguazu20092013_c_s — According to Luis Carlos, the investment in a rain coat was completely wasted. You still got 100% drenched under the waterfall.

After the falls, and after acquiring some dry clothes in the souvenir shop (a very strategically located shop!), we managed to find the right combination of local busses to get to the Itaipu Dam, just in time for the last tour of the day.

Itaipu is the largest hydroelectric facility in the World beating the Three Gorges Dam in China by a little bit. According to our tour guide, everything is shared 50/50 between Paraguay and Brazil, with half of the 20 turbines belonging to Brazil and half to Paraguay, and half of the employees coming from each of those two countries. However, Paraguay only needs one and a half turbine to supply 76% of the country’s electricity needs, so they sell the rest of the energy to Brazil, which has almost unlimited energy needs.

However, when we asked what currencies they accepted in the snack bar, the Paraguyan currency, Guaranies, was curiously absent, in contrast to Euros, Chilean Pesos, and many others, which makes us suspect that the postulated equality is not totally true.

Itaipu20092013_a_s — Luis Carlos, Oscar, Lykke and many other tourist taking photos of the enourmous turbines and the even greater dam.

ItaipuWiki — Here is a photo courtesy of Wikipedia, at a moment when they are releasing water to prevent the dam from overflowing. According to our guide, the reservoir has so much water that every inhabitant on the planet could pick up 5000 liters without emptying the dam.

INESAD has been asked to do an economic evaluation of the proposed Cachuela Esperanza dam in Bolivia, so this trip is serious background research. Actually, everything we do at INESAD is serious, even if it looks like fun.

Best free WordPress theme