Legal and regulatory framework

Both countries have made progress in defining a legal framework for work in national and international environmental management regimes. Creation of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE) in Costa Rica, and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) in Nicaragua are positive developments. However, two limitations remain: (1) institutional and organizational capacities for environmental management and administration are weak, and (2) gaps and duplications make successful implementation difficult.

Both countries have numerous institutions that directly or indirectly have management authority over water, making boundaries and responsibilities difficult to establish. Existing constitutional and institutional mandates, laws, and international agreements should make for a sufficient regulatory framework of environmental management. Limitations to their successful use are associated with a lack of the institutional, technical, and organizational capacity required to enforce compliance with this regulatory framework.

Likewise, instruments that regulate bi-national relations with respect to borders exist, but instruments for the joint management of water resources are lacking. Bi-national initiatives have concentrated on a few agreements regarding specific work such as the Si-a-Paz (Protected Areas for Peace). A Bi-national Commission has been reestablished to deal with border issues of common interest.

Over 200 governmental and non-governmental institutions are active in the SJRB. The most important of these include, of course, MINAE, the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica; MARENA, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Nicaragua; AA the National Drinking Water and Sewage Service of Costa Rica; ENACAL, the National Water and Sewage Company of Nicaragua; CNE, the National Emergency Commission of Costa Rica; INETER, the National Institute of Territorial Studies of Nicaragua; EBAIS, the Integrated Health Service of Costa Rica; and SILAIS, the System of Local Integrated Health of Nicaragua.