Latin America; in English (pdf) - Transboundary Freshwater Dispute ...

2.6 GOVERNANCE IN
INTERNATIONAL RIVER BASINS
One of the premises of this study is that the
likelihood of conflict rises as the rate of change
within the basin exceeds the institutional capacity
to absorb that change (Wolf 2000); therefore, an
understanding of institutions in international river
basins is critical. Thus, this section describes in
general terms the institutional frameworks dealing
with international river basins in Central America
and on Hispaniola Island, and later tests the above
premise, using the Lempa River basin as case study.
In Central America, it is possible to identify a
chain of efforts directed toward better management
of river basins through the development of
new legal frameworks for the water sector. In
international river basins; however, the emergence
of institutional frameworks is still very limited.
There have been basically two main initiatives in
the San Juan and Lempa Rivers, but the creation
of transboundary river basin organizations has
been slow.
In addition, at the regional level, the governance
process has been promoted by the Action
Plan for the Joint Management of Water in the
Central American Isthmus (PACADIRH). The aim
of PACADIRH is to constitute a guiding framework
for states’ efforts toward the management of water
resources, as well as to add its own dynamics to
individual states’ actions in this regard. Thus, its
main objective is as follows:
To promote and to get the aggregate
value inherent to the regional initiatives
concentrated in resolution of the main
water resource conflicts, through an
integral focus on conservation and
sustainable management of this vital
resource, articulating in complementary
way, the actions being executed in the
regional, national and local levels,
considering the social, economic and
environmental issues (PACADIRH
2000:51).
Each country’s experiences in Central America
are unique in term of institutional frameworks. For
instance, in Honduras, institutional frameworks
have been emerging as part of decentralization
strategies; however, these experiences are just in
the process of consolidation, they do not work
with all river basins yet, and they need to be
integrated into the processes of land organization
at the state level.
Guatemala’s remarkable experience in the
creation of domestic river basin institutions for the
lakes Amatitlán, Atitlán, and Izabal offers both
lessons and possibilities for international river
basin initiatives. It is important to recognize these
pioneering efforts and revitalize the elements of the
process. Through legislative acts 64-96, 133-96,
and 10-98, river basin authorities were created.
However, there has not been a deeper advance in
the creation of these types of entities in river
basins in Guatemala (IDEADS 1999, quoted in
Aragón, Rodas and Hurtado 2002).
In the case of Panama, the New River Basin
Administration Law of Panama (August 5, 2002),
was created with the objective of administrating,
managing, and conserving the water resources,
and it established the Hydrographical Basins
Committees that must carry out the following tasks:
• To recommend the juridical and
technical norms related to the river basins
• To get resources for environmental,
social, and economical management
• To design mechanisms for civic
participation (Martínez 2003).
2.6.1 International Cooperation
Agreements
In Central America there are four agreements that
have as their direct or indirect purpose attending
to the management of environmental issues in
international river basins. Those agreements
involve the international river basins of the
San Juan River. Photo credit: Alexander López Ramírez.
Chapter 2. Hydropolitical Vulnerability in Central America and the West Indies — 35