Water crises in Latin America are more a consequence of poor management than resource scarcity. Addressing water management issues through better coordination, identification of problems and solutions, and agreement on common objectives to operationalize integrated water resources management (IWRM) could greatly improve water governance in the region. Composite indices have great potential to help overcome capacity and information challenges while supporting better IWRM. We applied one such index, the Freshwater Health Index (FHI) in three river basins in Latin America (Alto Mayo, Perú; Bogotá, Colombia; and Guandu, Brazil) to assess freshwater ecosystem vitality, ecosystem services, and the water governance system in place. The approach included convening management agencies, water utilities, planning authorities, local NGOs and industries, community groups and researchers to co-implement the FHI. The results provide detailed information on the ecological integrity of each basin and the sustainability of the ecosystem services being provided. All three basins show very low scores for governance and stakeholder engagement, thus improving both in the region should be a priority. The results also shed light on how the FHI framework can help inform decision-making to improve IWRM implementation by facilitating stakeholder engagement while contributing to coordination, identification of problems and solutions as well as agreement on common objectives. Because implementation of IWRM is part of the solution for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.5 (“By 2030, implement IWRM at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate”), our case studies can serve as examples to other Latin American countries to achieve SDG 6.5.

拉丁美洲的水危机更多是由于管理不善而不是资源稀缺。通过更好的协调、确定问题和解决方案以及就实施综合水资源管理 (IWRM) 的共同目标达成一致来解决水管理问题，可以大大改善该地区的水治理。综合指数在帮助克服能力和信息挑战，同时支持更好的 IWRM 方面具有巨大潜力。我们在拉丁美洲的三个流域（秘鲁上梅奥、哥伦比亚波哥大和巴西官渡）应用了一个这样的指数，即淡水健康指数 (FHI)，以评估淡水生态系统活力、生态系统服务和水治理系统。地方。该方法包括召集管理机构、水务公司、规划当局、当地非政府组织和行业，社区团体和研究人员共同实施 FHI。结果提供了有关每个流域生态完整性和所提供生态系统服务可持续性的详细信息。这三个流域在治理和利益相关者参与方面的得分都非常低，因此在该地区改善这两个领域应该是一个优先事项。结果还揭示了 FHI 框架如何通过促进利益相关者参与，同时促进协调、识别问题和解决方案以及就共同目标达成一致，来帮助决策制定以改进 IWRM 实施。因为 IWRM 的实施是联合国可持续发展目标 (SDG) 6.5 解决方案的一部分（“到 2030 年，在所有层面实施 IWRM，包括酌情通过跨界合作”），