Dialogue on Water and Climate

Coping with Climate Variability in a Transboundary

The San Juan River Basin
(Costa Rica and Nicaragua)

Final Technical Report

Introduction

Purpose of the Report: This is the final technical report of the Dialogue on Water and Climate—a project carried out under the auspices of the International Secretariat of the Dialogue on Water and Climate (IS/DWC) in the transboundary basin of the San Juan River of Costa Rica and Nicaragua (SJRB). The Technical Units of PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN, a program of the ministries of environment of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, undertook the project; which was funded by the Government of The Netherlands. The project had four purposes. First, it was to describe the coping practices used by the communities in the basin to respond to climate variability. Second, it was to encourage on-going discussions of this topic basin wide. Third, it was to provide inputs to the strategic action program of PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN. And, fourth, it was to provide information to the governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua that could be used for a review of natural hazard preparedness and mitigation policies with regard to climate variability (OAS 2002)ⁱ.

Background: According to the IS/DWC, climate change will lead to changes in the global water cycle which will then impact regional water resources, increase variability in climate, and worsen the already marginal socio-economic conditions over much of the World. Indeed, this may already be happening. Understanding these phenomena at different scales over time and space is essential to adequately managing the World’s fresh water resources. The Dialogue seeks to increase awareness of the problems and their potential solutions, and wishes to initiate the social and political processes that will, in turn, lead to the adoption of strategies best suited to cope with the problems brought on by climate variability (DWC 2002.)ⁱⁱ

The Dialogue on Water and Climate is a consortium of members and an International Secretariat that has been called upon to improve worldwide water resources management to cope with the impacts of increasing variability of climate. It is a stage where policymakers and water resources managers can access and use the information produced by climatologists and meteorologists. A major task of the DWC is to organize and administer dialogues on water and climate, which may vary significantly in terms of scope and thematic, but with a focus always linked to climate variability and water. The major outputs of the Dialogue include an accessible knowledge base and information system; guiding principles and tools for policymakers and water resources managers; publicity and other materials for water managers to increase their awareness and understanding of the potential impacts of climate variability on water resources, ecosystems, human health and poverty; and national and basin-level strategies.

In order to reach these goals, the Dialogue has sponsored 18 national and basin level projects (Map 1). Because of the experience of PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN in using civil society participation in its planning process, the San Juan River Basin of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, was chosen as one of these projects.

PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN

PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN has its origins in the 1992 Summit of Central American presidents (Panama) that decided to support the Central American Plan of Action regarding border areas, and made the transboundary San Juan River Basin a priority area. Later, at the request of the governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, UNEP and the OAS signed a cooperative agreement in 1994 for work in the SJRB that commenced in 1995.¹With the technical cooperation of the Unit for Sustainable Development and Environment of the OAS, technical units from the ministries of environment in each country were formed to conduct a transnational diagnostic study to evaluate the socio-economic-environmental situation in the basin, and prepare conclusions, recommendations and guidelines for the formulation of a basin-wide strategic action program. This diagnostic study was completed in 1997 and the two governments requested implementation and continued updating the strategic action program to guarantee availability of the goods and services obtained from the water resources of the basin, and maintain the functions of the basin’s ecosystems for the benefit of present and future populations (OAS 1997).² Since its inception, the work of PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN was based on dialogues among the institutions and communities of the basin, and is currently working within the guidelines of the more formalized Inter-American Strategy for the Promotion of Public Participation in Decision-Making for Sustainable Development.

The Inter-American Strategy for the Promotion of Public Participation in Decision-Making for Sustainable Development (ISP):

The ISP has its origins in the UNCED, which led to the first hemispheric “Specialized Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Development.” This summit, convened in Santa Cruz, Bolivia in 1996, instructed the Organization of American States to formulate an inter-American strategy to promote public participation in decision-making for sustainable development.³

The Strategy contains the following six basic principles:

• A proactive role of governments and civil society to assure opportunities for public participation;
• Inclusion of a diversity of interests and sectors;
• Responsibility to share the commitments and burdens of development;
• Comprehensiveness to ensure participation in all phases of the decision-making process, with sufficient flexibility to make midstream adaptations;
• Access to relevant information, to the political process, and to the justice system; and,
• Transparency of information within, among, and between government and civil society organizations to ensure the efficient use of resources.
• These principles, in turn, give rise to the following recommendations:
• Create or strengthen existing formal and informal communication mechanisms to encourage information sharing, collaboration, and cooperation among civil society groups, within and between levels of government, and between government and civil society.
• Create, expand, and put into practice legal and regulatory frameworks that allow for the participation of civil society in development decisions.
• Support institutional structures, policies, and procedures that actively promote and facilitate government and civil society interaction in development decisions.
• Build and strengthen the capacity of individuals, within government and civil society organizations, to participate in development decision-making with an increased base of knowledge on sustainable development issues and public participation practices.
• Procure and expand financial resources to initiate, fortify, and/or continue participatory practices in development decision-making. And,
• Create, strengthen, and support formal and informal fora in which development activities are discussed and related decisions taken.

Dialogues: Given the make-up of the population in the basin as well as its physical and biotic attributes, dialogues were conducted along the following specialized lines: Management of shared basins and water resources, management of protected areas and preservation of biodiversity, incentives for the development of sustainable economic activities, overcoming conditions of poverty and attention to indigenous groups, institutional strengthening and legislation which would reconcile the major issues along their common border and within Central America. Three other issues that cut across all of the others are also being dealt with: gender, migration, and natural hazards.

i - OAS. 2002. “Coping with Climate Change and Climate Variability in a Transboundary Basin in the Central American Isthmus.” A proposal for DWC to Support the Establishment of a Multi-stakeholder Consultation on Water and Climate in the San Juan River Basin. OSDE/OAS. Washington, DC

ii -DWC. 2002. Home Web Page. http://www.wac.ihe.nl/home.html

1 - Funds were obtained from the international waters portion of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with UNEP as the executing agency and the OAS as the implementing agency.

2- The PROCUENCA-SANJUAN TDA report can be found at http://oas/sanjuan/English/TDA.htm

3 - Information on the ISP can be found at http//www.ispnet.org/ipgmissi.htm