The team was integrated by the Hygiene Division of the Municipality of Colonia, The Environmental NGOs Coordinator for Colonia, and the Local Development Programme of CLAEH (Latin American Centre for Human Economics).

The area under study includes the eastern part of the province of Colonia. It is a strongly integrated micro-region with an urban sub-system that includes five locations (Rosario, Nueva Helvecia, Colonia Valdense, Juan Lacaze and La Paz) and a rural area with highly developed farms. For the sole purpose of this study, the city of Tarariras and its area of influence were also included.

Environmental quality and sustainable management of the environment represent the main objective for the Rosario Micro-region, as not only the standard of living of its population but also the quality of their produce and services are closely linked to it. Several economic and social players in the Region have been making efforts along this line; municipal authorities and environmental NGOs can be mentioned among others.

The boosting development of agribusiness activities –dairy farming, forestry-paper industry and tanneries—and the need to strengthen such processes to provide the basis for the economic prosperity of the region, poses authorities, businessmen and neighbours with the challenge of sustainable resource management.

The issue under study

Two levels are identified in terms of the environmental issue:

1) the impact itself, as a technological problem that can be assessed with "technical" measures or studies; and

2) the level of awareness on the part of different stakeholders that are involved or affected by it. This refers to the level of awareness and knowledge of the cause and its connection to the real situation and, naturally, the opinion on possible improvement --as ground for any measure that could be implemented for its solution or control.

Most of the work is focused on this second level and the approach was through "semi-structured" interviews to "qualified informants".

The central hypothesis is that shared knowledge on the different environmental impacts, their causes, consequences and possible solutions represents an instance for dialogue and cooperation. If priority is given to collective interest over individual interest, it favours cooperative management actions. This hypothesis can be broken into the following explanatory elements:

Different interpretations of the problem by different stakeholders imply potential conflict of interests that could prevent group-agreed solutions.

Ignorance or exaggeration of a problem could favour external attitudes, causing multiple positions around it.

Ignorance of the real situation leads to the search or acceptance of "recipes" taken from different realities and contexts that are not necessarily applicable to the local reality.

CLAEH directed and supervised the work; coordination with local agents was the responsibility of experts from the Municipality of Colonia and the NGOs representative.

The methodological proposal is based on the multi-dimensional analysis of the issue under study; to this end, historical data, previous census, indicators of production, economic and land management indicators of the micro-region as well as information on the legal land management and legislation in force, specific studies on Environmental Management that could be of comparative value to the condition of the micro-region, were taken into account.

The intervention method suggested by CLAEH is not limited to the preparation of a "diagnosis"; it rather creates and promotes "thought and analysis instances on the basis of the expertise of the team of experts and the players involved. Thus, strategic thinking capacity will be generated to define the role of players and the factors that could limit or facilitate development projects".

Within this Project the Working Team itself represents an instance of thought and horizontal exchange, given the special combination of local actors and CLAEH as external actor; each party with different but complementary logic to understand the issue in all its complexity.

The working team compiled and analysed the information available before conducting the field work; this allowed them to have a better understanding of the local reality prior to establishing contact with the interviewees.

The main study tool was the "semi-structured" interview. Interviews are essential in all attempts to study local realities; they facilitate communication with local players on issues that are –in most cases—proposed with anticipation by researchers; others issues come up during the interview itself and cover different aspects of the local reality, the person’s life, and several other aspects that shape up the "context" of the interviewee and his/her "position" in it.

Three "variables" that explain the position of the interviewee in the local reality were considered together with their influence on the perception of each individual --in terms of the environmental problems and their management in the Micro-region.

Level of incidence of environmental problems in their personal interests (benefits/inconveniences): personal involvement.

Sector or institution he/she belongs to or represents.

Level of knowledge and implication in the environmental issue: the "Knowledge" or accrued knowledge of the interviewee in terms of the issue under study.

The objective was to collect opinions from the protagonists in decision-making processes and/or opinion creators in the local society; in addition, the most relevant activities and sectors had to be represented.

A workshop for the presentation of the Report drawn by the working team on the basis of interviews and a report on the Potential Environmental Impact in the Micro-region, was held. Interviewees and other local actors participated. As part of this activity, a panel was also organised during which three of the interviewees presented local experiences.

Activities that would imply similar impact or management problems are presented together; the same applies to those activities that are conducted jointly or in association. The list of activities is limited to those on which real concern was expressed on the part of interviewees and those that also represent an environmental risk requiring a solution.

Commentaries and quotes complementing the opinions collected are also included.

The analysis of interviews was conducted taking the following into account:

1) The environmental issue, and

2) The different players and their roles in environmental management.

In line with expectations, environmental issues and environmental management problems are perceived differently, depending on the actors interviewed, as a result of the geographic restrictions of their action and the way their interests are affected. We present some general conclusions in this regard.

Ideas and proposals contributed by the interviewees themselves have been included together with considerations and thoughts of the working group.