The city of Cartagena has had to confront numerous erosion challenges. The ways in which the city has responded makes Cartagena an excellent destination for VIII CICES – the 8th Iberoamerican Congress on Erosion and Sediment Control.
VIII CICES will be held 15 – 17 August 2016 at the Hotel las Americas, a five-star hotel along the Caribbean Sea. Pre-conference courses will take place on August 14 and a field tour is available on August 18.
The venue is not only a beautiful location but an educational one: beachfront protection and renewal are topics of the event.
VIII CICES PROGRAM
Organized by the Iberoamerican Chapter of the International Erosion Control Association (IECA), the VIII CICES brings together professionals, businesses, researchers, and students to evaluate and analyze environmental challenges and share insights and solutions. Attendees compare strategies, erosion and sediment control materials, and project information from throughout Latin America. The goal: to continuously improve approaches through experience and communication, and to renew a commitment to protecting the environment.
VIII CICES will also address climate change, economic challenges to infrastructure, and where in the region standards and other regulatory support may be needed.
Other points of focus:
- Urban infrastructure and the biotic processes of everyday life in cities which affect the environment either by erosion or sedimentation
- Agriculture and how inadequate food production processes induce soil loss and require erosion and sediment control solutions
- How to identify, enhance, and promote good practices in soil recovery for the benefit of communities, ecosystems, and the planet
- The state of coasts and shores and how the erosion and sediment control field can better assess and respond to coastal engineering needs, as well as provide long-term solutions
- How to monitor and correct erosion processes in challenging applications such as mining
CARTAGENA’s IMPORTANCE
Cartagena is a particularly attractive host city for VIII CICES. Colombia’s government is addressing its infrastructure, development, and landscaping through the National Development Plan 2014 – 2018, a plan which is summed up in the motto “All for a new country.” The ambitious program pledges to build a peaceful, equitable, education-rich Colombia. One of the factors that will enable the Colombian government successful carry out this plan is the creation of an infrastructure characterized by sustainable solutions.
The transportation infrastructure program, which is now in its Fourth Generation (4G), includes three phases of projects with a total investment of about 50 billion pesos (USD $17 million) between 2015 and 2022. This money supports 34 projects across 8,200 km (5000 miles) of roads, both for domestic road system improvement and to more efficiently link Colombia to the overall Americas.
Erosion and sediment control solutions are needed throughout this work.
VIII CICES participants will provide those solutions, as well as help the government and other project stakeholders understand risks and identify other potential environmental challenges.
Colombia, as a whole, possesses many large companies with experience in erosion and sediment control works for roads, ports, tunnels, vegetated slope stabilization, channel protection, streambank stabilization, rockslide mitigation and other geohazards, and coastal protection. VIII CICES attendees will learn from and network with these companies while helping them improve too.
As an event location, Colombia offers convenient access for infrastructure influencers from Chile, Spain, Argentina, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Brazil and other Latin American countries.
Learn more about VIII CICES and register online: http://viiicices.org/
