|
Hello
How are you doing? Greetings from Cuenca, Ecuador, where I’m on a working holiday 🇪🇨
Meanwhile, when I left Uruguay last week, we were in the worst crisis that I can remember (and I’ve been here 23 years). Those of us in Metropolitan Montevideo were told that the reservoirs had enough water for just 18 days 🚰 It was a huge shock. After all, Uruguay has an abundance of water sources. We’re sitting on one of the world’s biggest aquifers for a start.
Reuters put out an article this week entitled Uruguayans pray for rain as capital reservoir left with 10 days of water 🙏🌧 It was true, we are all shocked and kind of in disbelief about the situation. However what struck me about the piece, and elsewhere I looked online in both English and Spanish, was that nowhere could I learn about the reasons for a crisis that seemed to come with very little warning.
I am lucky that I have some great contacts 📞 So this week I found myself talking to Néstor Mazzeo who called me from Costa Rica where he’s carrying out research and Mariana Meerhoff from her office in the University of the Republic, both renowned experts in the field of water resources in Uruguay and beyond. They shared some of the complexities—and the changes that Uruguay needs to put in place—if we are to find ourselves in a sustainable place in the future. You can read the summary here: Uruguay water crisis: How did we get here? I hope you'll find it as illuminating as I did.
The good news is that talking to colleagues in Montevideo yesterday their first greeting was: It’s raining! ☔️
On a more positive note, this week Harvard Business School opened up its new Latin American headquarters—in Uruguay 🎓🇺🇾
Oh, oh, and Montevideo’s 2024 carnival dates are out! 🎉
So, a big hug coming at you from Cuenca !
|
