Contents Characterization

 

Recommendations

In addition to locating best practices for IS/DWC on the coping mechanisms of households and communities, the field investigation was also to recommend actions for the Strategic Action Program of PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN and make suggestions for policy change to the governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. These would be based on any problems and unfulfilled need encountered during the study. The following can be mentioned:

  • A principal problem in the drier parts of the SJRB is that a lack of catchment tanks causes a large loss of water.
  • Financial resources for maintenance of water distribution systems are scarce and the problem is caused in large part by the non-payment of water bills.
  • There is fear that water rights will be privatized. The problem arises because some landowners have springs that they share with neighbors. With new privatization laws, these springs must be registered or they pass into the public domain.
  • Some citizens say that there is inadequate management of the water resource and that the water committee and the municipality do not take its supply and distribution seriously enough, thus forcing them to get water from sources that are historically unsanitary or to go elsewhere for their water.
  • Recently established communities have been sited on land higher in elevation than the potable water storage tanks and the pumping system is inadequate to get water to them.
  • Current demand for water was not anticipated when older water systems were built.
  • Non-governmental organizations say that an impartial analysis is necessary to say what the impact of deforestation, reforestation and hydroelectric projects is.
  • There is a negative perception of government organizations by many NGOs that are active in the SJRB.
  • NGOs accuse government agencies of blocking civil society participation watershed management.
  • Housing and other buildings, and transportation infrastructure have been built in flood plains, thus making them more susceptible to damage by floods, and worsening flood because they divert water from its normal course.
  • Information of a local nature concerning specific areas and activities threatened by drought, flooding, and hurricanes, is not sufficient to reduce that threat.
  • Not all municipalities and communities have active, in-place emergency plans.
  • Despite campaigns to keep rivers, streams and other water sources free of trash, garbage, dead animals and other contaminants such as pesticides and industrial chemicals, water quality in many parts of the SJRB remains poor.
  • Sources of these contaminants are official and unofficial dumps, and poor storage and application practices for pesticides and fertilizers.
  • Not all livestock owners have the capacity to move their animals to better pastures during times of drought.

Recommendations to PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN

Directly or indirectly, many of the problems cited above are already on the agenda of PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN. For instance, integrated, participatory planning for the sustainable use and conservation of resources in the SJRB is one of the best, if not the only, way to confront many of the issues just mentioned. That process should be continued at the sub-basin level as well. Certainly, such planning is a beginning in any effort to solve the problems of the rural poor. And, since indications are that migration is as much of a way to cope with the problems of poverty and inequity as it is to cope with climate variability, integrated participatory development planning is also of use here.

Activities to deal with many of the specific problems can be made through a continuation of the model of workshops and demonstration projects that is so important to the work of PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN. Creating and supporting partnerships with government agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses and associations of producers are other means by which the above-mentioned problem can be treated. For example, work with the National Emergency Commission of Costa Rica and the National Emergency System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Relief in Nicaragua in their efforts to establish, organize and support functioning local and communal emergency committees also requires work with nearly all other institutions in the community. Work of this nature can catalyze cross-border cooperation at the local, regional (provincial-departmental), and national levels.

PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN is also investigating the role of gender in the sustainability of development in the SJRB; that work is important when the topic is how to respond better to emergencies initiated by extreme climate variability. Women and men are affected differently by disasters and disaster mitigation needs to be sensitive to these differences. Similarly, because of culture history, habits, and daily concerns, as well as genetic make-up men and women respond differently to emergencies. Much can be learned of a positive nature by analyzing those responses and PROCUENCA-SAN JUAN should guide that effort.

Recommendations to the Governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua

The implementing agencies of the two governments have progressed substantially in their responses to the emergencies created by extreme climate variability. To a very large degree, much of this progress is directly dependent on the manner and degree to which the various agencies—each with different and often conflicting and/or competing mandates—cooperate and coordinate with one another during times of crisis. The clarity and comprehensiveness of overarching government policy is key to the success of cooperative efforts among government agencies as they seek to fulfill their mandates.

For many reasons, including population growth, the fact that the SJRB is a transboundary basin, and the evolving needs both within the basin and elsewhere in the two nations, existing policy will need to be adjusted and new policy initiatives will need to be put forth. For example, the economic, social, cultural and security needs of the populations of the SJRB were previously supported almost entirely by the natural goods and services of the basin. Quality water was freely and abundantly available as were land and construction material. Nature supplied a disposal service for all kinds of refuse and contaminants. How and how rapidly these natural services are replaced with human managed services will depend upon governance processes based on wise policy. In the matter of coping with climate variability, policy initiatives will be required in at least the following areas:

  • Proper management of solid waste and other sanitary needs within the SJRB.
  • Technical support to information and education campaigns regarding best practices for coping with climate variability and its influence on water quantity and quality.
  • Promotion of hygienic measures as the situation warrants.
  • Mobilization of national and external resources to facilitate development of the drinking water and sanitation sector possibly through privatization of important components of the process.
  • National reform and modernization of the drinking water and sanitation sector including mobilization of national and international resources.
  • Development and promotion of low-cost technologies, particularly for the more vulnerable populations of rural and marginal urban areas.
  • Establishment of quality control criteria and standards for drinking water supply, and monitoring by relevant health authorities.
  • Codification and zoning authority for the supply and treatment of water that is not endangered by flooding or hurricanes.
  • Development of human resources for the health sector.
  • Incentives to increase community participation in water and sanitation, especially in rural and marginal urban areas.