Guanajuato, Gto., April 5, 2016. Dr. Sergio Antonio Silva Muñoz, professor of the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Guanajuato (UG), assisted as a guest speaker to the Innovation Center of Tokyo's Institute of Technology to give the conference "Lake Basin Heartware, a collaborative way of protecting more than just water resources", in which he sustained that the destiny of the lake basins must not depend exclusively from science, but also from the non-economic value humanity assigns to nature.

In his talk, Dr. Silva highlighted that in the last years one of the main focuses of the International Lake Environment Committee (ILEC), has been the implementation and promotion of "Lake basin Heartware" as a tool that aids in the search for a better Integrated Handling of Lake basins, since –he said—the sustainability and government problems in these basins cannot be completely solved by science or technology, since they are the part result of the diversity in the perception, expectation and human values.

He exposed as an answer that the environmental conditions of the lakes continue decaying before a planning based exclusively in science, emerged the Lake Basin Heartware Approach, that incorporates the planning processes, interests, concerns, beliefs, and postures of the basin's users, and that it can help remove the scientific and economic barriers that prevent the consideration of intangible values in the plans of handling the basin.

He remarked that information was frequently ignored, information that reflects esthetic, spiritual or traditional values, and in the same way, environmental concerns expressed by the interests in emotional terms are discarded in the planning processes on handling the lake basins. As a consequence, many non-economic and non-scientific values that society possesses, are put aside in the definite plans, and despite these should reflect the character of society.

Finally, Dr. Silva manifested that the importance of science in the preservation of lakes and their environment is not subject to discussion, but for the experience of 28 lakes in the world, indicate that the destiny of the lake basins must not depend on science exclusively, but also of the non-economic value that humanity assigns to nature requiring an analysis where they can join formal and practical knowledge, and give an opportunity to interact to the non-economic value and scientific reasoning.