sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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Integrated water resources <strong>development</strong> and management
In the 1980s and 1990s, many countries of the region undertook reforms of their institutional structure
for water resource management, a process that is still ongoing. A common feature of these reforms is a shift of
the State’s responsibilities towards overseeing, promoting and regulating the activities of others. Other
common features are decentralization and greater private-sector involvement in the water sector. Processes are
also under way to change legislation regarding water resource management and the organizations responsible
in this area. These changes are designed to improve water management, assigning responsibility for water
policymaking and coordination to a non-user regulatory or coordinating body that is independent and separate
from traditional users (such as agriculture and the electricity, drinking-water supply and sanitation sectors) and
that takes an integrated approach to water resources, with the watershed as the appropriate unit.
Many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have water basin plans (albeit under varying
denominations), but their implementation is severely hindered by a lack of governance mechanisms, legal
regulations, commitment by actors and <strong>sustainable</strong> sources of financing. The main challenge is to secure
functional methods of administration for policymaking, institutional coordination, conflict resolution and
project planning and implementation. There is recognition of the basic fact that sectoral regulatory bodies
cannot be responsible for allocating water resources properly among competing uses because they would
be acting as both judge and jury. In this respect, experience of local water governance in Central America
is interesting (see box II.9).
Box II.9
LOCAL WATER GOVERNANCE IN CENTRAL AMERICA
The seven countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) have agreed joint public policies and strategies
for integrated water resource management and integrated rural <strong>development</strong>. In <strong>20</strong>09 and <strong>20</strong>10, they approved three
regional strategies: the Central American Strategy for Integrated Water Resource Management (ECAGIRH); the
Regional Agro-Environmental and Health Strategy (ERAS); and the Central American Strategy for Rural Territorial
Development (ECADERT). a These three Central American public policies are aimed at promoting <strong>sustainable</strong>
<strong>development</strong> at the local level, with special emphasis on the <strong>sustainable</strong> use of water resources. One of the key aspects
of these policies and of new national legislation on water is the use of <strong>sustainable</strong> watershed management criteria for
establishing local water governance bodies and for land-use planning as part of the <strong>development</strong> process.
For example, Nicaragua’s new National Water Authority (ANA), established in mid-<strong>20</strong>10, is organizing a
network of local committees responsible for water governance and for defining local management plans. In the Coco
River basin, part of which is in Honduras, since <strong>20</strong>10 ANA has been conducting a pilot initiative for establishing a
local water authority and defining local <strong>development</strong> plans based on <strong>sustainable</strong> watershed management.
Municipalities in the basin have joined forces in two associations —AMUNSE in Nicaragua and MANORPA in
Honduras— that work together to define management plans for sub-basins. With financial support from the
European Union, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), UNEP and the Regional Unit for
Technical Assistance (RUTA) provide technical assistance and training to ANA and to local authorities, to build the
capacities of local watershed organizations and provide technical criteria for defining management plans, which are
geared towards: the rational use of natural resources; combating poverty and exclusion; developing environmental
resources; promoting ventures that produce environmental goods and services; and reducing socio-environmental
vulnerability to extreme weather events, such as alternating droughts and floods. At the same time, ANA is building
on the Coco River experience to define models and methods for organizing micro-basin and sub-basin authorities
throughout Nicaragua. The Coco River experience and other pilot initiatives being undertaken in Central America
are providing the community with practices in a region where proper water management is crucial.
Source: United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), on the basis of Central American Integration System, “Estrategia
Centroamericana Agroambiental y de Salud – ERAS”, <strong>20</strong>09; “Estrategia Centroamericana para la Gestión Integrada de
los Recursos Hídricos”, <strong>20</strong>09; “Estrategia Centroamericana de Desarrollo Rural Territorial – ECADERT”, <strong>20</strong>10;
“Estrategia Centroamericana para la gestión integrada de los recursos hídricos”, <strong>20</strong>09.
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The three public policies mentioned have been approved in the past two <strong>years</strong> by the Governments of Belize, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.