First Meeting of the Steering Committee
San José, Costa Rica
November 9 -10, 2000

Introduction | Outcomes | List of Participants | Agenda

Introduction

In November of 1999, the preparation of the GEF Project Brief was completed with monies from the PDF Block B. With that same funding, a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA) was also carried out and completed. This document was the scientific base for the elaboration of the proposal subject of the funding request submitted by the governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Having the GEF Council approved the funding at its meeting of May 9, 2000, the Government of Costa Rica, through Her Excellency the Minister of the Environment and Energy, Ms. Elizabeth Odio Benito, convened this first meeting of the Steering Committee of the Project for November 9 and 10 of 2000.

The meeting was held in San José, Costa Rica. At the meeting were present Ms. Elizabeth Odio Benito, Mr. Roberto Stadthagen, Minister of the Environment and the Natural Resources of Nicaragua, representatives of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, representatives of the Local Governments (municipalities), the Director of the OSDE/OAS, at the time Dr. Richard Meganck, the UNEP Task Manager for the Project, Ms. Isabelle Vanderbeck, and representatives of important regional and international cooperation organizations that collaborate with the Project. Attached there’s a complete list of participants.

During her intervention, the Minister of the Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, stressed the need to use the opportunity that the Project offers to achieve the sustainable human development of the area. She highlighted the responsibility that the governments of Costa Rica and Nicaragua and other stakeholders in the Basin have over the development of the projects to be executed under the Formulation of a Strategic Action Program for the Integrated Management of Water Resources and the Sustainable Development of the San Juan River Basin and its Coastal Zone (SJRB). The Minister added that the Project is of a great importance to Costa Rica. Finally, she indicated that efforts have to be made to ensure the public participation process is indeed gender-oriented.

The Minister of the Environment and the Natural Resources of Nicaragua highlighted the importance of this new phase to consolidate the principles that govern the policy of the State of Nicaragua on water resources. He stressed the relevance of the elements of the Project and its insertion in the Regional Action Plan for the Management of Water Resources in Central America, as a fundamental part of the Central American System for Integration.

The meeting was characterized by excellent presentations of some of the projects that are being executed in the SJRB in collaboration with the Project. Among them, we can mention the "Flood Vulnerability Reduction and Early Alert System Development in Small Valleys" (MARENA - Defensa Civil – OAS – Government of Ireland), the "Plan for the Rehabilitation of the Frío River Basin" (MINAE – MARENA – UNDP – Government of US), and the "Biological Corridor of the Atlantic" (MARENA – World Bank). The presentation made by Mr. Max Campos of the Regional Committee on Hydraulic Resources, key regional organization that collaborates with the Project, was also of great relevance.

Outcomes

The event kicked off this new phase of the project, establishing its Steering Committee and the working basis for its execution. The Technical Coordinators for the Project were designated - Juan José Castro Chamberlain for Costa Rica and Javier López Medina for Nicaragua - and their Terms of Reference (TORs) were approved. In addition, the Steering Committee approved the Budget and Activity Program for the period November 2000 – March 2001, and other relevant documents.

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