Asunción, Agencia, IP.- Guillermo Achucarro chose France to pursue a Master’s Degree in Hydrology and Risks at the University of Montpellier from 2016 to 2018 through The National Postgraduate Scholarship Program Abroad «Don Carlos Antonio López» (Becal). He emphasized that it was an enriching experience in academic terms and contributed to changing his professional approach.
Living three years in France allowed him to work with top-level professionals. Currently, he researches and teaches in Coronel Oviedo from the Caaguazú department. He stated that the scholarship gave him valid tools for his current work, including responsibility, seriousness, and a global vision.
As a researcher, his line of inquiry is based on climate change and energy transition, central elements of his Master’s Degree, which helped him understand the complexity of environmental and water issues at the regional and international levels.
Among the causes of our country’s climate imbalance, the interviewee mentioned deforestation and a development model that does not align with environmental climate needs regarding adaptation and mitigation to climate change.
He asserted that Paraguay is South America’s second most deforesting country, behind Colombia and Peru, nations larger than ours. He added that there has been significant deforestation in a short time, affecting ecosystems as they do not have time to adapt, losing their degree of resistance and resilience.
As this local, regional, and global environmental issue progresses, the researcher argued that Paraguay is moving in the opposite direction regarding adaptation. How cities are constructed, mainly our Capital and those in the greater Asunción area, does not align with environmental climate needs.
The initiatives of The National Postgraduate Scholarship Program Abroad «Don Carlos Antonio López» (Becal), under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), and financed by the Fund for Excellence in Education and Research (FEEI), have an execution of approximately 413 billion guaraníes to date.